SpaceX Rocket Stage Strikes Moon, Highlighting Debris Concerns
A four-tonne upper stage from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket struck the moon on Wednesday after drifting through space for more than a year, according to scientists tracking the object. The rocket stage had launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 15, 2025, carrying Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s Resilience lunar landers.
No telescope recorded the collision itself, which was expected to occur near Einstein Crater on the moon’s western limb at roughly 8,700 kilometres per hour. However, astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile detected a plume containing sodium and lithium that extended tens of kilometres into space for five to 10 minutes. Boston University astronomer Carl Schmidt said the observations provided strong evidence of the impact.
Direct visual confirmation was expected from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter after it passed over the presumed crash site. Ground-based observers had considered the impact difficult to see because of its location and the limited visibility of any flash or dust cloud.
SpaceX said the crash was unintentional. Company representative Julianna Scheiman said solar activity and gravitational forces altered the stage’s path, placing it on a collision course. SpaceX is working with NASA on measures intended to prevent similar events.
The incident adds to concerns about debris around the moon as government and commercial missions increase. A Chinese rocket stage also struck the lunar surface unintentionally in 2022, while other impacts may have gone unrecorded.
The Falcon 9’s original mission produced mixed results: Blue Ghost completed a successful landing, while Resilience crashed. NASA and private companies are planning additional robotic and crewed lunar missions, increasing attention on post-mission disposal. Researchers say future impacts could disturb large amounts of lunar dust and create operational risks as activity expands near sensitive equipment and landing sites and potentially complicate nearby scientific observations.