NASA Reveals Before-And-After Images Of Crater Carved By SpaceX Rocket Impact On Moon|Watch Video

NASA unveiled new images on Tuesday, revealing a fresh crater on the Moon's surface believed to have been formed by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crash on August 5. The upper stage of the rocket, weighing three tons of TNT, collided with the lunar surface near Einstein Crater. The rocket's stage, left in space after a previous mission, remained in orbit for over 18 months before striking the Moon.

The images, captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), showcase the newly formed crater, which measures 60 feet wide and less than 10 feet deep. The LRO, a spacecraft studying the Moon since 2009, compared pre- and post-collision images to detect changes in the lunar terrain. The spacecraft had to adjust its angle to face the impact area, traveling at one mile per second at an altitude of 60 miles (96 kilometers) from the impact site.

The images reveal bright and dark rays radiating from the crater. The darker streaks consist of weathered surface dust and rocks, altered by solar wind, galactic cosmic rays, and micrometeorite impacts. These materials were excavated by the collision up to 1.5 feet into the lunar surface. Conversely, the brighter streaks near the crater rim are composed of fresh material excavated from deeper underground.