A four-tonne piece of a SpaceX rocket, which has been in space since last year, is set to unintentionally collide with the moon today. The collision, expected around 06:35 GMT, poses no danger to Earth but will leave a new lunar crater.
The object is the second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched a lunar lander from Firefly Aerospace in January 2025. This school-bus-sized rocket body will hit the lunar surface at 5,400mph (8,690 km/h), kicking up a plume of lunar dust.
Nasa anticipates the impact will create a crater about 60ft (18 metres) wide and 12ft (four metres) deep. The rocket piece is expected to hit the Einstein crater on the moon’s western limb.
Nasa scientists are planning to collect lunar data from the event and refine techniques for tracking objects in space. Jimi Russell of Nasa stated on Tuesday that the impact poses no danger to Earth.
Astronomers determined earlier this year that the rocket stage, which had dumped its remaining fuel and cannot be controlled, was on an orbital trajectory towards the moon. Julianna Scheiman, SpaceX director of Nasa science and Dragon programs, said on Monday that solar activity and gravity forces put it on this path.
SpaceX and Nasa are discussing ways to prevent future lunar impacts. Such rocket parts typically fall back into Earth’s atmosphere or oceans, but this mission required more thrust, leaving the second stage in space.