Seoul's lunar orbiter captured images of the Moon before and after part of SpaceX's rocket hit its surface on Wednesday.

Flaming chunks of metal crash into homes, farms and parking lots. Who’s to blame? And who pays for the damage?

The upper section of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is about to crash into the Moon. When it crashes the impacts are likely to be visible from Earth, as it could change the physical and chemical properties of the lunar surface.

After a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage was believed to have struck the moon on Wednesday after drifting in space for nearly a year, US media AP reported Thursday, citing scientists, this unexpected lunar impact has drawn attention to both scientific opportunities and the growing challenge of managing space debris.

More than 46,000 pieces of debris are currently in orbit, according to the European Space Agency. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The unintended event also creates an opportunity for scientists and skywatchers to witness lunar impact dynamics in real time, although the debris will hit a sunlit portion of the moon from the perspective of Earth,

Seventy years ago, Earth had only one satellite: the Moon. Now it has more than 15,000 – about 10,000 of which are owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The world’s first trillionaire plans to launch one million more satellites,

Every year, thousands of satellites are launched into orbit around our planet. The result is an increasingly congested "space" above Earth populated by equipment that provides services to the surface.

Space is littered with man-made trash that threatens satellites, space missions and life on Earth. A newly designed European Space Agency robot will drag the junk back toward Earth, where it will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere or drop into the ocean.