South Korea space agency shares Moon images after SpaceX rocket debris crash
Summary
South Korea's space agency shared photos of the Moon's surface before and after a piece of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crashed into it. The rocket part hit the Moon on Wednesday at about 06:35 GMT, traveling at high speed, and the impact was unintentional.Key Facts
- The Korean AeroSpace Administration (KASA) used its lunar orbiter Danubri to capture images after the rocket debris struck the Moon.
- The debris was the empty upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket, about the size of a five-story building and weighing around 4,000 kg on Earth.
- The rocket upper stage was launched from Florida in January 2023 carrying two lunar landers.
- This upper stage was left drifting in space and gradually pushed toward the Moon by gravitational forces and sunlight.
- The impact was at about 5,400 mph (8,700 km/h) and created a brief flash too faint to be seen by amateur astronomers.
- SpaceX said the crash was not intentional.
- The Falcon 9 rocket is reusable, with parts designed to return to Earth while others are discarded in space.
- Experts warn that growing amounts of space debris could make traveling beyond Earth's orbit more difficult in the future.
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