SpaceX rocket rips hole in upper atmosphere during explosion

When SpaceX’s “Starship” rocket exploded during its first test flight last year, it not only created a lot of fire and smoke – part of the atmosphere also changed. A particularly large hole was created at a high altitude, researchers wrote in the journal “Geophysical Research Letters”. It extended over thousands of kilometers and for almost an hour.

According to the study, the hole is an area in which the air has been neutralized. This is because electrically charged particles are normally present there, in the so-called ionosphere at an altitude of around 60 to 1,000 kilometers. The Starship flight reduced the number of these particles because the combustion of the rocket fuel led to an exchange of charges.

Lead author Yuri Yasyukevitch from the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics in Irkutsk, Russia, told Nature that the exhaust gases from various rockets could create temporary holes – but in this case the effect was particularly large, also due to the shock waves of the explosions.

Volcanic eruption also tore a huge hole

The ionosphere reacts to various things, the study continues. For example, it can change during solar flares, large meteorites, and events on the Earth’s surface such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. The effects of the “Starship” launch on the ionosphere are comparable to those of large earthquakes or the eruption of the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai near the South Pacific kingdom of Tonga in 2022.

Yasyukevitch was surprised by how much change the researchers were able to observe. “This means that we do not understand the processes that take place in the atmosphere,” he explained. It is possible that such events could have an impact on satellite navigation in the future, for example for autonomous vehicles.

“Starship” is the largest and most powerful rocket system ever built. During the flight from Texas on November 18, 2023, the “Super Heavy” engine separated after just under three minutes and exploded shortly afterwards at an altitude of 90 kilometers. The upper stage continued to fly to 149 kilometers and also exploded. According to the study, the debris fell into the sea northeast of Puerto Rico.

Satellite systems provided data

To study the effects of the Starship flight and the explosions, the researchers are using satellite-based navigation systems (GNSS). Receivers on the earth’s surface communicate with satellites. The speed of certain electromagnetic waves changes with the number of electrical particles in the ionosphere.

Using this data, the researchers were able to determine that the number of electrical particles decreased in one area after the launch. The disturbances spread northwards in a V-shape, up to a distance of 2,000 kilometres. “This appears to be the first detection of a non-chemical ionospheric hole caused by a man-made explosion,” they conclude.

The first flight was followed by further unmanned launches of “Starships” from tech billionaire Elon Musk’s private space company. During the fourth test this June, the giant rocket flew in space for half an hour before a controlled landing was achieved. The spaceship and rocket are to be reused in the future. “Starship” is intended to enable manned missions to the moon and Mars.