NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured images of a fresh impact crater on the Moon. The feature formed after a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage struck the lunar surface on August 5.
Image credit: NASAThe spent rocket spent months in space following a January mission launch. To photograph the fresh impact zone, the spacecraft had to wait six days until the lunar target rotated into view.
Image credit: NASATraveling 60 miles above the Moon at one mile per second, engineers tilted LRO toward the site. A timing error of just ten seconds would miss the target by ten miles.
Image credit: NASAUsing its high-resolution Narrow-Angle Camera, LRO photographed the site under varied lighting. Shadow analysis revealed the crater spans 60 feet across while remaining less than 10 feet deep.
Image credit: NASAThe collision blasted debris into bright and dark rays. Darker streaks consist of topsoil weathered by solar wind, while brighter rays stem from fresh material unburied from 1.5 feet deep.
Image credit: NASAIndependent astronomers and NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies calculated the rocket's impact trajectory. The exercise successfully tested hazard-tracking algorithms used to safeguard Earth from incoming space d
Image credit: NASANASA shared predicted coordinates with South Korea's Danuri spacecraft team. Danuri imaged the crater hours later with its LUTI camera, confirming the trajectory prediction was accurate within 0.6 miles.
Image credit: NASACombining data from both lunar orbiters, scientists fixed the exact coordinates at 19.4759°N, 266.7138°E. This precise marker provides a fresh baseline for studying how artificial impacts reshape the Moon.
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