{"id":5926,"date":"2026-07-31T14:41:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5926"},"modified":"2026-07-31T14:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:41:26","slug":"spacex-rocket-is-on-a-high-speed-collision-course-with-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5926","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX rocket is on a high-speed collision course with the moon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By MARCIA DUNN<\/strong>, Associated Press<\/p>\n

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) \u2014 A drifting SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the moon after launching a pair of lunar landers more than a year ago.<\/p>\n

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The rocket\u2019s upper stage will unintentionally slam into the moon on Wednesday, carving out a crater and sending up a plume of dust and rubble that scientists \u2014 and skygazers \u2014 are eager to observe.<\/p>\n

Space tracking expert Bill Gray predicts an impact of 5,400 mph \u2014 seven times the speed of sound \u2014 near Einstein Crater on the moon\u2019s sunlit western limb. With the action unfolding in the wee hours, the eastern portions of the U.S. and Canada, and much of South America should have the best views.<\/p>\n

While scientists are not too concerned about this particular piece of space junk, it highlights the growing threat as more and more items cram into orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings are getting crowded up there,\u201d said Gray, who plans to view the aftermath from New Brunswick, Canada.<\/p>\n

It was never SpaceX\u2019s intent to hit the moon. But space experts said the crash could have been avoided if the upper stage had been nudged into orbit around the sun.<\/p>\n

It will be the second dead rocket known to crash into the moon accidentally. A Chinese rocket segment dug out a pair of craters on the lunar far side in 2022.<\/p>\n

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Lucky for astronomers, the upcoming smashup will occur on the moon\u2019s near side, packing the equivalent energy of three tons of TNT.<\/p>\n

The impact flash, lasting less than a second, will probably be too dim to see, according to experts. But the stream of ejected material could stretch for several miles into space and remain visible to telescopes for tens of minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gravity on the moon is low and there is no wind to blow the dust away,\u201d said Los Alamos National Laboratory\u2019s Benjamin Fernando, who\u2019s encouraging observations by professionals and amateurs alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the reason for our interest in this event is to figure out how much of a hazard debris impacts pose to future astronauts,\u201d he added in an email.<\/p>\n

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Fernando anticipates an impact crater nearly 90 feet across and 16 feet deep, too small to see from Earth but visible to spacecraft.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea\u2019s Danuri lunar orbiter will gather before-and-after shots of the crash scene. Danuri will stray within a mile or two of the SpaceX rocket just two minutes before impact, according to Fernando and his team.<\/p>\n

The abandoned rocket segment \u2014 measuring some 40 feet and weighing around 10,000 pounds \u2014 hoisted two private lunar landers on Jan. 15, 2025.<\/p>\n

One of them \u2014 Firefly Aerospace\u2019s Blue Ghost \u2014 became the first private spacecraft to pull off a fully successful lunar touchdown. The other, Japan-based ispace\u2019s lander, wrecked.<\/p>\n

With meteoroids and other natural objects offering little if any warning before walloping the moon, scientists said there\u2019s much to learn by observing well-tracked strikes by human-made objects like the one coming up. NASA hurled rocket sections and lunar modules into the moon during the Apollo era for seismic measurements. Decades later, in 2009, NASA intentionally crashed its LCROSS spacecraft and upper stage in search of ice near the lunar south pole.<\/p>\n

With the moon as the new travel hot spot, scientists said it\u2019s crucial to improve debris monitoring and traffic control before packs of robots and astronauts arrive.<\/p>\n

The United States and China are racing to land astronauts on the moon in the next few years. Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin are vying to provide the lander for NASA\u2019s yet-to-be-named moonwalkers of Artemis IV, who will succeed the 12 Apollo astronauts who strolled the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis impact will not be a problem,\u201d retired astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said in an email. \u201cBut in a future where there are long-term bases on the moon, similar impacts would be an issue and we need not to leave rocket stages in chaotic orbits of this kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n

Read more Some robotaxis approved to operate without steering wheels; losing the brake pedal could be next<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tracking expert predicts an impact of 5,400 mph \u2014 seven times the speed of sound \u2014 near Einstein Crater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nSpaceX rocket is on a high-speed collision course with the moon - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5926\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SpaceX rocket is on a high-speed collision course with the moon - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A tracking expert predicts an impact of 5,400 mph \u2014 seven times the speed of sound \u2014 near Einstein Crater.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5926\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-31T14:41:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5926#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5926\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"SpaceX rocket is on a high-speed collision course with the moon\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-31T14:41:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5926\"},\"wordCount\":751,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5926#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7a03d317b46492216e079550eb53f667-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5926#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5926\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5926\",\"name\":\"SpaceX rocket is on a high-speed collision course with the moon - 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