SpaceX: What can scientists learn from a Falcon 9 rocket hitting the Moon?

The science and probably the first images might come from powerful telescopes in the Americas where the sky was still dark. Even then, turning the detection of a 14m object hitting a daylight part of the lunar surface i385,000km away won’t be easy but not impossible.

Image processing to clean up the picture can take hours, days or even weeks, as scientists check and process the data.

But the sight of the new crater from the orbiting spacecraft will be eagerly anticipated. Because researchers already know the rocket’s exact size, speed and point of impact, this collision turns from being a random accident into a rare, controlled experiment.

It is a dream moment for planetary scientists because it lets them test their models of how impacts dig out craters, throw debris across the surface, and send tremors through the Moon’s interior.

That has real practical value.

Understanding how much rock and dust an impact throws up will help engineers design safer landers and future Moon bases, working out how far flying debris can travel and how hard the ground might shake nearby.