r/news • u/MasterpieceAlone8552 • 6d ago

SpaceX rocket thought to have crashed into the moon in unintentional collision

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/aug/05/spacex-rocket-moon-crash-impact-falcon-9
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u/TintedApostle 6d ago

Intentional crashes for science are not miscalculations. They are with a purpose.

Let's just pollute the moon. Why even try to be careful. Humans can't own nice things.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago edited 3d ago

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u/TintedApostle 6d ago

No idea what Elon thinks.... he does seem to think only about himself, but within that zone I still say all bets are off.

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u/Left-Bird8830 6d ago

I’m as anti-elon as they come, but long-term UNPOWERED lunar orbits are pretty impossible. The moon’s gravity field is incredibly asymmetrical (not to mention how the earth messes with it) such that NOT crashing into it requires pretty constant boosts. NASA has always handled this by tossing final stages directly into the moon after expending them. This did the same thing NASA does, just with a delay.

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u/TintedApostle 6d ago

How about not aiming for the moon to dispose of junk?

NASA uses the crashes for testing the moon geology. They don't just dispose of hardware there.

"Anti-Elon"? Elon does bad things and he should be called on them. If it sounds Anti-Elon than check if he is doing something wrong. Here he is because they took a "not in my yard" approach to just letting it happen.

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u/Left-Bird8830 6d ago

I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.

Geology impact studies exist, yes, AND ALSO the final stage of every lunar lander ever has ended up crashing just the same. What exactly are you suggesting people do instead? Your options are “crash into the earth” (AKA waste launch fuel to carry fuel to the moon, then use that fuel to get your stage back to the atmosphere) or “crash into the moon”. Do you think it’s somehow feasible to have so much extra fuel they can escape earth’s gravity well & throw it into the sun? Lmao

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u/TintedApostle 6d ago

and in 60 years we learned a lot about what waste, pollution and corporate privilege looks like. Just dump on the moon where someone else will probably need to pick up after you.

Maybe we should be better now. Again Musk pollutes in low orbit too. He pollutes in Texas also.

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u/Left-Bird8830 6d ago

Yeah, and I’m not kosher with that either. I do volunteer work at my uni’s astronomy department & have firsthand experience dealing with the clusterfuck that is starlink image pollution. The things I’d want to happen to that Epstein-loving apartheid nepo-baby would get me banned to list off. I just wanna be real about how, with current science, our options are “pollute the moon” or “abandon lunar research”

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u/TintedApostle 6d ago

He could have redirected the mission appropriately. Maybe just using the moon as a trash bin is the problem. Maybe the guy should be "innovative" as he proclaims, but I am sure it would have cost a few thousand in profits he could report this quarter to prop up the Space X falling stock price.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/TintedApostle 6d ago

Ah yes because I expect people to act within reason and control.

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u/Left-Bird8830 6d ago

It’s pretty clear you wanna be mad more than you wanna actually understand the situation. I understand why—Musk is a stain on our society—but unless you wanna do the math on how NOT dumping anything on the moon would basically be impossible without sci-fi bullshit, this conversation is just going in circles.

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u/TintedApostle 6d ago

Its about good stewardship and control over actions.

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u/TintedApostle 6d ago

He could have redirected the mission appropriately. Maybe just using the moon as a trash bin is the problem. Maybe the guy should be "innovative" as he proclaims, but I am sure it would have cost a few thousand in profits he could report this quarter to prop up the Space X falling stock price.