The Moon is set to experience another collision on Wednesday, 5 August, when a drifting SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket upper stage impacts its surface. The rocket part, travelling at around 2.43 kilometres per second (5,400mph), is expected to hit the Moon at approximately 06:35 GMT.
Nasa's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) confirmed the impending impact after independent astronomers noted the trajectory of a portion of a Falcon 9 rocket launched in January 2025. The upper stage, about the size of a five-storey building and weighing at least 4,000kg on Earth, is predicted to land near the Einstein Crater, which is visible from Earth.
Astronomer Bill Gray, who first identified the trajectory, predicts the impact will create a crater more than 17m (56ft) in diameter. Dr Matt Bothwell, a public astronomer at the University of Cambridge, expects a significant dust plume, potentially 50km or more into the air, which will spread sideways.
Scientists plan to observe the event closely, using telescopes in the Americas, Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and South Korea's Danuri probe. This accidental crash presents a unique opportunity to study lunar impacts and gain clues about the Moon's subsurface material.
The collision also serves as a cautionary tale regarding human-made space debris. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), there are approximately 54,000 objects larger than 10cm floating in space, with humans having launched about 17,000 tonnes of objects since 1957.