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Elon Musk's lost rocket crashes into Moon, leaving a crater captured by Korean probe
🇪🇸 Spain /Technology

Elon Musk's lost rocket crashes into Moon, leaving a crater captured by Korean probe

From El País · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Outcome reported
  • A spent SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket upper stage crashed into the Moon, creating a crater visible in images captured by South Korea's Danuri lunar orbiter.
  • The upper stage, launched in January 2025 for a lunar payload mission, had been drifting uncontrolled for over a year before its impact.
  • The collected data will be combined with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter observations for scientific research.

A piece of Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has collided with the Moon, leaving a visible crater. South Korea's Danuri lunar orbiter captured the impact site, confirming the event that astronomers had anticipated.

Danuri began observations about 30 minutes before the collision and, through orbital control maneuvers, repeatedly flew over the impact area, performing a total of eight photographic sessions.

— South Korean Space AgencyExplaining the Danuri probe's role in capturing the impact.

The upper stage of the Falcon 9, launched in January of last year to carry lunar landers for Firefly Aerospace and Japanese company Ispace, had insufficient fuel to return to Earth. After drifting uncontrollably for over a year, its journey concluded abruptly on the lunar surface at approximately 8,700 kilometers per hour.

Thanks to these observations, changes in the terrain around the crash site and traces of dispersed material have been identified.

— South Korean Space AgencyDescribing the findings from the Danuri probe's observations.

The Danuri probe observed the impact area before and after the collision, documenting changes in the terrain and scattered material. The Korean agency stated that the collected data will be integrated with observations from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter as part of an international scientific collaboration. This mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, aimed at supporting the return of astronauts to the Moon and establishing a sustained presence.

The data collected by Danuri will be used in highly relevant scientific research.

— South Korean Space AgencyHighlighting the scientific importance of the collected data.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El País in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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