SpaceX rocket debris crashes into Moon, creating debris cloud
Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.
At a glance
- A defunct SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage crashed into the Moon on March 4, 2025, creating a cloud of space debris.
- The four-ton booster, which had been in orbit since January 2025, impacted the lunar surface at approximately 8,690 kilometers per hour.
- While no spacecraft directly filmed the impact, a telescope in Chile detected spectral lines of sodium and lithium in the resulting debris cloud, confirming the collision.
A spent SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage, adrift in space since January 2025, has collided with the Moon, adding to the growing problem of space debris impacting celestial bodies. The four-ton booster, roughly the size of a small school bus, impacted the lunar surface on March 4, 2025, at a speed of approximately 8,690 kilometers per hour.
I am 100% sure
The inert second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket had been launched from Cape Canaveral to carry two private modules, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost and ispace's Resilience. It became untethered after releasing its payloads. The mission required more thrust than near-Earth flights, leading the rocket to expend its remaining fuel and lose the ability to be controlled, resulting in its inevitable trajectory toward the Moon.
Although no spacecraft captured direct images of the impact, astronomers using a telescope in Chile detected evidence of the collision. The European Southern Observatory reported that its Very Large Telescope recorded spectral lines of sodium and lithium in a debris cloud that persisted for five to ten minutes after the impact. Scientists believe the sodium likely originated from the lunar soil, while the lithium may have come from the rocket itself.
I can confirm that the impact occurred.
Astronomers like Carl Schmidt of Boston University expressed high confidence in the telescopic evidence, stating, "I am 100% sure" that the observations revealed signs of the crash. Benjamรญn Fernando, a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, also confirmed the impact after analyzing data from Chile. The collision occurred in a dusty region near the Einstein crater on the Moon's western edge, an area difficult to observe directly from Earth.
I have no doubt that the device crashed.
Originally published by La Naciรณn in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.