A mask rocket explosion provoked a unique and dangerous phenomenon in the atmosphere

The rocket launcher separated, as planned, but after four minutes it exploded in the air. Soon, Starship erupted himself. Usually holes in the ionosphere are formed through chemical reactions with fuel of engines. This time, the hole lasted about 30 minutes before the ionosphere was naturally recovered.

The top layer of the Earth's atmosphere is mostly composed of plasma: a mixture of neutral gas molecules, positively charged ions and free electrons, which are electrons released from their parent atom and are able to move independently. The analysis of the researchers showed that during the Starship explosion, the emerging shock wave scattered free electrons, temporarily disrupting the plasma and creating a "hole" in which the usual properties of the ionosphere were depleted.

It is also possible that any rocket fuel, which did not burn immediately during the explosion, could interact with the ionosphere and "increase exhaustion and increase its duration. " The study was published in Geophysical Research Letters. The explosion in November 2023 was not the first and not the last case of the Starship SpaceX ship. The incident happened when Ilon SpaceX's space company launched a second Starship test flight from its test and production facility Starbase in Boca-Chika, Texas.

After that, the first test flight Starship was launched seven more times, a total of eight test flights. Four of them ended in explosive failures. This year SpaceX has not yet made the successful launch of Starship. During the seventh and eighth flights, which took place on January 16 and March 6, respectively, the rocket launcher successfully returned to the star base, where she was caught by the capture of the starting tower.

However, the upper degree exploded 10 minutes after the start during both flights, scattering the debris throughout the flight route, including Turks and Kaikos and Bahamas. SpaceX is currently preparing for the ninth test flight of the rocket, which should take place no earlier than May 20.