The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released photos on the 18th (local time) of a crater created when a rocket booster that once carried a lunar lander crashed into the lunar surface.

The 18-meter-wide crater was formed when the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket—launched in January of last year carrying two private lunar landers—entered an impact trajectory with the Moon due to unknown variables and struck the surface.

While the first-stage booster of the Falcon 9 returned to Earth, the upper second stage served to push the lunar landers into a trajectory toward the Moon.

After completing this mission, SpaceX discarded it, but it collided with the lunar surface a year and a half later.

After confirming that the rocket collided with the Moon on the 5th of this month, researchers sought to obtain video data of the impact site.

Collaborating with Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA), NASA utilized preliminary data collected by South Korea's lunar orbiter Danuri (KPLO) to direct the narrow-angle camera aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). This succeeded in capturing clear images, which were unveiled on this day.

In a press release, NASA explained, "To capture images of the impact site, every time the LRO passed about 96 kilometers above the Moon at a speed of 1.6 kilometers per second, the spacecraft's body was tilted to point the camera toward the crater," adding that it took six days to align the LRO's orbital path with the impact site.

NASA also emphasized that while the impact was unexpected, it posed no threat to either the Earth or the lunar surface.

"This impact is not something for us to be overly concerned about," said Kelsey Young, a NASA lunar scientist. "It is a safe way to dispose of technically permitted equipment in low lunar orbit."

She added, "We are learning more about the lunar surface through the observation data of this impact, which is being utilized to prepare for how to protect future astronauts and infrastructure sent to the Moon."

(Photo: NASA/AP, Yonhap News)