SpaceX rocket stage set to crash into Moon in accidental impact

A four-tonne SpaceX rocket stage is expected to crash into the Moon on August 5 in an unintentional high-speed impact that will create a new lunar crater while offering scientists an opportunity to study the effects of artificial collisions.

The school bus-sized object is the second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched in January 2025 to send a lunar lander from Firefly Aerospace toward the Moon, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

After completing its mission, the stage remained in space and eventually entered a trajectory that will end with a collision on the lunar surface.

The rocket body is expected to strike the Moon at approximately 0635 GMT at a speed of about 5,400 mph (8,690 km/h), impacting near Einstein crater on the Moon's western limb. NASA estimates the collision will create a crater around 18 metres wide and four metres deep, ejecting dust and rock across the surrounding area.

NASA said the impact poses no threat to Earth but plans to observe the site before and after the collision to gather scientific data.

"The impact poses no danger to Earth and Nasa scientists are planning to collect lunar data from the event and refine techniques for tracking objects in space," NASA's Jimi Russell said on Tuesday.

Scientists expect the impact to generate a plume of lunar dust illuminated by sunlight, although it is likely to be difficult to observe from Earth without specialised equipment.

Unlike missions that remain close to Earth, lunar launches require greater thrust, meaning the Falcon 9's second stage was unable to return to Earth's atmosphere after releasing its payload. Instead, it drifted through space after exhausting its fuel, joining thousands of pieces of orbital debris.

Astronomers only determined earlier this year that the uncontrolled rocket stage was on a collision course with the Moon.

"What has happened is essentially a mixture of solar activity and gravity forces have put it on a path toward the moon," Julianna Scheiman, SpaceX director of NASA science and Dragon programmes, told reporters on Monday.

NASA said data collected from the impact could improve understanding of artificial collisions on the lunar surface and support future exploration efforts.

Bill Gray, creator of widely used astronomy software, said the event could provide limited scientific value while underscoring concerns over the disposal of space hardware.

"This may be of some – probably minor — scientific interest, and we may learn some things from it," Gray said.

"It doesn't present any danger to anyone, though it does highlight a certain carelessness about how leftover space hardware [space junk] is disposed of."

Accidental impacts by discarded rocket stages are uncommon. A Chinese rocket stage struck the Moon in 2022 after a lunar test mission, while NASA deliberately crashed a rocket stage into the lunar surface in 2009 to study the material ejected by the impact.

By Aghakazim Guliyev