The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that a SpaceX rocket that launched lunar landers collided with the moon as expected on Wednesday after drifting off course for a year. An Associated Press dispatch to The Globe reports that although the impact, at 8,700 kilometres per hour, wasn't directly observed, a telescope in Chile captured the resulting debris plume. Experts said the collision was inevitable. It's another case of lunar litter, raising concerns as the U.S. and China advance toward sending astronauts to the moon. In 2022, a Chinese rocket accidentally collided with the moon, and many other rocket debris have likely impacted it over the years without scientists' awareness. SpaceX's Julianna Scheiman reported that the company is collaborating with NASA to prevent future crashes. She emphasized that the projected moon collision was accidental, caused by solar activity and gravity. Boston University's Carl Schmidt said he is "100 per cent certain" that his team's observations revealed signs of the lunar crash. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope detected a stream of sodium and lithium stretching for tens of kilometres into space for at least five to 10 minutes following the impact.