SpaceX
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket completes its 450th mission
The collision is expected to occur on August 5th, at a speed of around 8,700 km/h, more than enough to open a new crater on the lunar surface. The incident reopens the debate about space debris, as new NASA Artemis missions approach.
Everything seems to indicate that a fragment of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is advancing uncontrolled through the space between the Earth and the Moon, and will reach the surface of our satellite this summer
According to one of the astronomer Bill Graythe object in question is the upper stage of a Falcon 9, approximately 13.8 meters high, which was abandoned after a launch in early 2025.
On board this mission two lunar rovers followed: the Blue Ghost module, from Firefly Aerospace, and the Hakuto-R module, developed by the Japanese company iSpace.
Gray’s report estimates that the impact will occur on August 5th, around 7:44 am in Portugal, close to the Einstein crateran area located on the boundary between the visible side and the far side of the Moon.
Although the impact does not pose a direct danger for any spacecraft in operation, highlights an increasingly pressing problem: the management of space rocket debris — the increasingly worrying space junkwhose increasing density can .
Gray maintains that the trajectory of this type of space junk can be calculated quite precisely, given that its movement depends, above all, on the gravity of the Earth, the Moon, the Sun and the planets.
In his own words, the astronomer explained that the fragment “does not represent any danger to anyone, although it highlights the lack of concern regarding the how thes wreckage of space equipment».
The report was never published in a scientific journal, but the author asked several astronomers to review their calculationsnote or .
To determine the prediction, more than 1,000 observations carried out over the last year were used, during which the rocket fragment described its trajectory. trajectory in the Earth-Moon systemat a distance similar to that of our natural satellite.
The collision would occur at around 8,700 km/h, a speed more than enough to open a new crater on the lunar surface. The resulting flash, however, would be too faint to be observed from Eartheven with large telescopes.
The underlying concern relates to the upcoming Artemis missions of NASA and with the expected increase in launches towards the Moon.
If the US intends to intensify the frequency of its missions and China plans to send astronauts before 2030, the lunar space debris management will become decisive factor in avoiding risks in an environment that, soon, could have ships, cargo, crews and infrastructure in the vicinity of the lunar south pole.
