George Rose/Getty Images If you're worried that plastic six-pack rings you threw out last week entangled a seagull, it's no big deal compared to what Elon Musk is doing. The spent upper stage from a SpaceX rocket will slam into the Moon next Wednesday. The estimated 5,400-mile-per-hour impact near Einstein Crater will create a plume of lunar dust and rock several miles high, visible from Earth through telescopes. The incident only illustrates how space debris could pose a much more serious threat in the near future. Coincidentally, the spent upper stage helped deliver a pair of privately operated landers to the Moon last year. The 10,000-pound rocket segment has just been drifting through space since the January 2025 launch. According to the Associated Press, the impact could have been avoided entirely if SpaceX nudged the stage's trajectory into an orbit around the Sun. When the stage slams into the surface, the impact force will be equivalent to detonating three tons of TNT. NASA is planning to take before-and-after shots of the 90-foot-wide impact crater with its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Debris strikes may influence future Moon missions Nasa/Getty Images While next week's impact won't endanger anyone, it raises concerns because there could be people living on the lunar surface in the near future. NASA is slated to construct Artemis Base Camp near Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole. China and Russia are also collaborating to build their own moon base. The vast majority of Earth-bound space debris will simply burn up in the atmosphere, but the Moon's extremely thin atmosphere offers no protection. With the proliferation of space debris, agencies will have to evaluate whether their lunar outpost could be a potential impact location. SpaceX is no stranger to littering this planet with its junk. The private space company has been frequently exploding Starship rockets in tests as it attempts to get a single one to survive a launch. In February 2025, a rocket exploded over the Caribbean, showering the Turks and Caicos in debris. SpaceX promised to cover the clean-up costs, but the government of the British Overseas Territory wasn't sure about how much it would cost to collect all of the debris and evaluate the environmental impact. SpaceX surely operates like a trillion dollar business, but they love burning money.
+17 others
