Chinese satellite records SpaceX rocket remnant's lunar impact

A Chinese commercial space debris monitoring satellite has successfully tracked and recorded the moment a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket second-stage remnant smashed into the moon, marking a significant achievement for the country's commercial space monitoring capabilities.

At around 2:35 p.m. Beijing Time (0635 GMT) on August 5, the roaming rocket body collided with the lunar surface after more than a year of orbital evolution. The event drew widespread attention from the global space community, as it offered a rare opportunity to observe the interaction between artificial objects and the lunar environment.

The space debris monitoring satellite, known as Gande-1 01, was jointly developed by the Beijing-based Aotian Technology and the Liangxi Aerospace Technology Group in Wuxi City, east China's Jiangsu Province.

At the constellation control center in Liangxi District, Wuxi City, engineers used the Tianjing monitoring platform to track the status of satellites in orbit. With support from the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Gande-1 01 successfully identified the faint Falcon 9 upper-stage object against strong background light and deep-space conditions, completing its first observation and data acquisition mission.

"We captured images of the Falcon 9 second stage heading toward the moon on August 1 and August 3. At the time of impact at around 2:35 p.m. on August 5, we recorded images of the lunar region," said Chen Long, a data processing engineer at the center. The impact was later confirmed through spectral observations conducted by overseas observatories.

Launched aboard a Lijian-1 commercial rocket on July 24, the satellite carried out the observation just over 10 days after entering orbit, tracking the lunar impact of a rocket remnant nearly 380,000 kilometers away from Earth.

As China's first commercial space debris monitoring satellite, Gande-1 01 is capable of detecting space objects across low-, medium- and high-Earth orbits. Its independently developed propulsion system allows flexible orbital maneuvers, allowing the satellite to conduct close-range observation and other complex in-orbit operations.

The satellite is also equipped with an artificial intelligence-assisted computer, enabling it to flexibly conduct routine monitoring, emergency response and rapid tracking missions, with reduced reliance on ground-based operations.

Gande-1 01 is part of the Gande constellation which will consist of 120 satellites. The constellation is expected to be fully established before 2030, forming a comprehensive space-based monitoring network.

Once completed, the system will work together with ground-based observation facilities and broader sensing networks to achieve full coverage of all-orbit target detection.

Aotian Technology said it will continue optimizing the space debris monitoring constellation construction and enhancing its ability to monitor objects in low-, medium- and high-Earth orbits, as well as near-lunar space, with high accuracy and around-the-clock coverage.