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Lunar collision provides unique scientific opportunity

Wednesday, while most of us were sleeping, a massive human made object slammed into the surface of the moon at a blistering speed.

Wednesday, while most of us were sleeping, a massive human made object slammed into the surface of the moon at a blistering speed.

At about 2:35 in the morning on August 5, 2026, a four metric tonne, 12-metre long piece of a discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket collided with our closest celestial neighbour.

Lunar collision provides unique scientific opportunity Back to video

Traveling at roughly 8,700 kilometres per hour, the impact occurred near the Einstein Crater on the western limb of the moon. This event brings up important questions about space debris, but it also provides a genuinely unique scientific opportunity for astronomers and planetary researchers.

This spectacular collision was completely unintentional. The doomed booster is a relic from a January 2025 launch that originally sent private lunar landers toward the moon. Normally, launch providers perform disposal maneuvers to ensure their upper rocket stages safely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere or enter a stable orbit around the........

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