[gshubert17]

The kinetic energy of 2000 kg at 2500 m/sec is about 6 trillion joules. A ton of TNT is about 4 trillion joules. So the kinetic energy of impact would be the same as 1.5 tons of TNT.

A Nasa document https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20090043092/downloads/20... has a slide on the second page about this mission. It estimated about 200 tons of lunar rock and soil were excavated, and that the crater made was about 20-25 meters across and 3 meters deep.

[ncmncm]

1.5t of TNT certainly has enough energy to vaporize 1.5t of TNT. And, as they say, "then some".

2000 kg of aluminum costs, what, 1/4 billion joules to vaporize? I get 6.25 billion joules of impact energy, not trillion, but still plenty. I am corrected.

You can move a fair bit of material out of the way with that many joules. I guess you would start by vaporizing the 2t of Al plus another several tons of rock, and then dissipate the heat by lofting stuff out of the way as it expands, recycling the heat energy back to kinetic as it cools.

[gshubert17]

You're right. s/trillion/billion/. The key fact is that the two ton object had the impact of 1.5 tons of TNT. Thanks.