South Korea’s Danuri Orbiter Captures First Images of SpaceX Rocket’s Lunar Crater

Danuri began imaging about 30 minutes before the collision and made eight imaging sessions as it passed over the site, according to KARI. The agency said the paired observations will allow researchers to isolate terrain changes caused by the impact and study the spread of ejecta. ^[1]

The upper stage launched on January 15, 2025, carrying Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s Resilience lunar landers toward a Moon-crossing orbit. Because the mission used most of the stage’s available fuel, it could not perform the controlled disposal maneuver normally used to send Falcon 9 upper stages back into Earth’s atmosphere. SpaceX said solar activity and gravity gradually redirected the stage toward the Moon. ^[4]

NASA expects its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to image the site in the week after the collision. Those observations should help determine the crater’s final dimensions and the extent of the surrounding debris field. ^[3]

The event produced a small, localized disturbance rather than a broad environmental change. NASA says lunar impacts can loft dust and atoms into the Moon’s extremely thin exosphere, while ejecta from nearby impacts can pose risks to spacecraft and surface equipment. The new Danuri images give researchers a controlled, documented example of those processes using a known impactor and impact time. ^[5]