On August 24 , 2017 , Elon Musk ’s aerospace company SpaceXlaunched and landedone of its Falcon 9 rockets . While it ’s not themost powerfulrocket in SpaceX ’s arsenal , the shockwaves from the trip were strong enough to charge a 560 - mile - wide of the mark hole through a stratum of the atmosphere , Fortunereports .
The rift occurred in the ionosphere between 50 and 620 miles above Earth . Most rockets are able to make it past this layer without disturbing it by veer their flight . When a projectile fly almost parallel to the land , it burn less rocket fuel fighting the force of gravity , bequeath more to filch it and its payload past Earth ’s atmosphere .
For Falcon 9 , this was n’t necessary : Its only cargo was an Earth observance orbiter for Taiwan ’s National Space Organization that weighed about 1050 pound . This comparatively lightheaded burden allowed the rocket to follow a nearly upright path into orbit . This had an unintended consequence : As the Falcon 9 ’s booster dose and 2nd microscope stage fired , it radiated circular shockwaves that exhaust through the ionosphere , leaving an opening that remain for virtually three hours .
The temporary hole did n’t have disastrous burden on the environs , and it ’s likely that future launches with the same outcome wo n’t either . ( It ’s also not the first time a rocket has create a hole in the ionosphere [ PDF ] . ) But one area that might be affect is human engineering . The ionosphere is the place where radiation from the Sun and blank space ionizes molecule , stripping them of one or more of their electrons and giving them a positive electric charge . This blanket of ion and liberal election in the atmosphere reflect radio waves , piddle satellite or radio - based transmissions possible .
When there ’s a large lump of plasma missing from the ionosphere , GPS accuracy takes a hit . According to a report card in the journalSpace Weather , the hole left by Falcon 9 may have make a error of a few feet in GPS services for its length . Under the correct condition , it ’s possible that rocket - get pickle in the ionosphere could throw off GPS calculations by more than 65 pes .
The shock absorber undulation of a single roquette like Falcon 9 are n’t enough to get chaos , but as roquette launches become more common , scientist will need to take a closer look at this effect .
[ h / tFortune ]
