Falcon 9 Upper Stage Set to Impact the Moon on August 5, 2026
Upper stage impacting the moon on 2026 August 5
I predict that a discarded Falcon 9 upper stage will strike the Moon on August 5, 2026. While this event poses no danger, it highlights the careless disposal of space junk. My software analyzed observations from asteroid surveys and amateur astronomers to forecast this impact, noting that solar radiation pressure introduces some uncertainty to the exact timing and location.
It doesn't present any danger to anyone, though it does highlight a certain carelessness about how leftover space hardware is disposed of.
- ilamont
I love this page. Text, photos, links. Straight up HTML 4, maybe even using a template in a text editor and FTPed to go live. I didn't see any inline or referenced CSS. No scripts. No ads. No social junk. The home page even has a <table> just like it's 1994.
What are the drawbacks to reverting to this type web publishing? That's how I used to do things before publishing tools and CMS and platforms took over, but I know the security landscape has changed quite a bit, and such pages are always in the deep long tail of Google results (and therefore practically invisible to AI summaries, which often surface complete junk as sources).
- sixtyj
> Over 600 Falcon 9 rockets have been launched. Most of the upper stages are either in orbits close to the earth or have already re-entered the earth's atmosphere. A few are orbiting the sun. The object that will be hitting the moon has been orbiting the earth for a little over a year.
- norenh
Welp, my initial thought based on the link was that this was part of Project Pluto:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto
https://web.archive.org/web/20200329022906/http://www.merkle...
It is not... This is a Falcon-9 rocket stage, not a part from the Flying Crowbar or any similar nightmare-device.
- dopamean
After so much time hearing about how SpaceX dumps rocket debris all over Boca Chica it's kind of amusing that they're also leaving trash on the moon. It would be cool if we sent people back to the moon one day and they took photos next to junk like this. Or whatever is left of it.
- glimshe
Soon we'll need to call Roger Wilco to take care of all this junk.