NASA has released a series of images showing a newly identified crater on the Moon created by the impact of the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The images were captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) between August 11 and 12.
The crater joins a long list of meteoroids, disused spacecraft and other space debris that have struck the lunar surface over the centuries.
The LRO photographed the site under different lighting conditions, which revealed features not previously visible. In the images where the crater's rim is most clearly defined, scientists calculated its width at 18 meters. Based on the shadow cast inside the crater, researchers estimate its depth at less than 3 meters.
Bright and dark rays around the impact site
The images show light and dark rays extending outward from the crater. The darker material is made up of dust and rock from the lunar surface that has been altered over time by solar wind, galactic cosmic rays and micrometeorite impacts.
The lighter bands near the crater's rim consist of fresh material excavated from deeper layers beneath the surface.
A six-day imaging effort
NASA said capturing the images took six days, because the LRO circles the Moon from pole to pole every two hours. To get the shots, the spacecraft had to be tilted so its cameras pointed at the crater each time it passed about 96 kilometers above the lunar surface, traveling at 1.6 kilometers per second.
Timing had to be calculated with precision. NASA said that if the camera had fired 10 seconds earlier or later than planned, the target would have shifted 16 kilometers off center.
Coordinates refined with help from Danuri
After photographing the crater, the Danuri mission, South Korea's lunar orbiter, sent coordinates to the LRO team to help refine the sequence of subsequent images. Comparing the new pictures with images taken before the impact, the LRO team updated the coordinates of the crater's center to 19.4759 degrees north, 266.7138 degrees east, at an altitude of 511 meters.
NASA's long-running lunar orbiter
The LRO has orbited the Moon since 2009, mapping the lunar surface in detail and studying features including impact craters, water ice deposits and potential landing sites for future missions. The Falcon 9 is SpaceX's reusable rocket, regularly used to launch satellites, cargo and crew; its upper stage carries payloads into orbit before being discarded, and in this case the discarded stage went on to strike the Moon.
