(Image: Nasa)A SpaceX rocket launched a year ago is set to crash into the Moon this week. 05 pm IST). 5 years.
While the collision won't be visible to most observers on Earth, researchers hope it will reveal new insights into lunar impacts and future Moon missions.(Image: Nasa)A SpaceX rocket launched a year ago is set to crash into the Moon this week. The Falcon 9 rocket is predicted to slam onto the Moon’s surface, blasting out a crater about 89 feet wide at 2.35 am EDT on Wednesday (12.05 pm IST). The rocket has been hovering aimlessly high above Earth’s orbit for more than 1.5 years. Statistically, the rocket was not supposed to end up this way.Orbital event that redirected Falcon 9 towards Moon The Falcon 9 was launched in January 2025 with two private robotic lunar landers as cargo. SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets are known for reusing the first stage, while the upper stages are typically single-use. In typical SpaceX launches, they deorbit the rocket stages and guide them back to a controlled area for recovery and destruction. The Falcon 9 does not have a similar case; it used up all the upper-stage fuel to get to the deployment point of rovers. The rocket was carrying two rovers: Blue Ghost and Resilience. Blue Ghost landed successfully and carried on with its historic mission, and Resilience crashed while trying to touch down. As per a recent study about the upcoming impact of the rocket published on the arXiv digital repository, the 4,000-kg rocket body “was abandoned in a moon-crossing high-Earth orbit”. Julianna Scheiman, director of Nasa satellite missions at SpaceX, stated on Monday at a press conference about the company’s Crew-13 astronaut launch to the International Space Station, which is scheduled for September 12, that SpaceX carried out “a different manoeuvre [than deorbiting] to ensure that the second stage itself is safe per the appropriate rules and regulations”. The safety manoeuvre did not actually move the rocket to a safer location, yet the natural force acted on the rocket and changed its path, leading the trajectory to a crash.Story continues below this ad Scheiman said, “What has happened is, essentially, a mixture of solar activity and gravity forces has put it on a path towards the Moon.” Why are scientists intrigued to see the rocket crash? Astronomers and lunar scientists are awaiting the upcoming lunar impact, even though it is expected to occur on the Moon’s sunlit side, making it difficult for most observers on Earth to witness. However, researchers say powerful telescopes may still be able to detect the plume of debris, or ejecta, thrown up by the collision. The event is expected to provide valuable scientific data, helping researchers refine techniques for measuring impact flashes, locating impact sites using seismic data, and improving understanding of the risks that space debris poses to future lunar missions. “The event provides an opportunity to test pipelines for measuring flash properties to locate impact events seismically and to better understand the multimodal hazards posed to future lunar infrastructure and astronauts from space debris impacting the moon,” Fernando and his colleagues wrote in their study. Those risks could soon become a practical concern rather than a theoretical one. Nasa plans to establish a sustained human presence near the Moon’s south pole through its Artemis programme over the next decade.Story continues below this ad SpaceX says it is working with Nasa and other agencies to develop safer disposal methods for spent rocket stages. “It’s one of the things that we’re working in partnership with Nasa and the other appropriate agencies,” said Scheiman. “What is the best future disposal path for high-energy missions that are in the sun-Earth-moon system?” The Falcon 9 upper stage will not be the first rocket body to strike the Moon. Several Saturn V third stages from Nasa’s Apollo missions were deliberately crashed into the lunar surface for scientific research. On March 4, 2022, a mystery rocket stage slammed into the Moon, creating an u
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