--- title: "Scientists Say SpaceX Starship Explosion Tore a Hole in the Atmosphere" description: "The explosions during the second orbital Starship test flight created a temporary hole in the ionosphere, according to new research." date: "2024-09-07" modified: "2024-09-07" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/starship-explosion-hole-atmosphere" categories: - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" tags: - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # Scientists Say SpaceX Starship Explosion Tore a Hole in the Atmosphere ![The explosions during the second orbital Starship test flight created a hole in the ionosphere, according to new research.]() *\Image: Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty\* ## Holy Fail When SpaceX's Starship rocket blew up — [again]() — it punched a hole open in our atmosphere, according to new research. Four minutes after launching from SpaceX's facility in Boca Chica, Texas on November 18, the Starship's superheavy booster exploded at an altitude of roughly 56 miles after separating from its second stage. This was followed by *another* explosion minutes later, when the surviving portion of the spaceship reached an altitude of 93 miles, and then combusted itself. Now, as detailed in a [new study]() published in the journal *Geophysical Research Letters*, it appears that these events combined to create a temporary hole in a region of the upper atmosphere called the ionosphere, where charged particles, stripped of their electrons by solar radiation, form the final boundary between the Earth and the vacuum space. ## Sounds About Right The ionosphere spans approximately 50 to 400 miles above the Earth's surface. According to the researchers, the velocity of the Starship itself, which was traveling faster than the speed of sound, sent cone-like acoustic shock waves through this region. "They had a very large amplitude, but the most unexpected thing was that there were many oscillations and that the waves were propagating in a northerly direction," study lead author Yury Yasyukevich, an atmospheric physicist at Russia's Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, [told Russian state-owned news agency *TASS*](), translated from Russian. "Usually, when spacecraft are launched, waves are observed to propagate to the south." Then when the explosions followed, the resulting sound waves caused the electrons to "disappear," neutralizing the charge of atoms nearby — thus forming the ionospheric hole that spanned up to 1,200 miles. This is noteworthy, because "usually, such holes are formed as a result of chemical processes in the ionosphere due to interaction with engine fuel," Yasyukevic said. As such, the researchers say this is the first documented detection of a non-chemical hole in the ionosphere formed as the result of a man-made explosion. ## Ions Be Bygones Fortunately, this hole more or less healed after 30 to 40 minutes, the researchers said. Though the circumstances behind this one were unique, these are [relatively]() [common events](), as the exhaust from rocket launches can cause ionized atoms to recombine and lose their charge. Natural phenomena, like [volcanic eruptions](), can also create ionospheric disruptions. Starship's fiery demise actually provided a rare glimpse of how the ionosphere is impacted by such events, especially weaker ones, which can be difficult to detect, Yasyukevich said. And what they've learned so far is puzzling: the researchers didn't expect the size of the disruption to be this big. "It means we don't understand processes which take place in the atmosphere," Yasyukevich [told *Nature*](). Let that be food for thought. **More on the atmosphere:** *[SpaceX's Starlink May Be Keeping the Ozone From Healing, Research Finds]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()