Elon Musk: Elon Musk’s SpaceX recently hit headlines when its Falcon 9 rocket launched on July 19 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. However, this launch was not without some interesting results.
According to a report on Spaceweather.com, the rocket created a temporary hole in the ionosphere surrounding our planet during its ascent.
The ionosphere is an important layer of Earth’s atmosphere that lies at the edge of space and is filled with charged particles called ions. It plays an important role in various atmospheric phenomena, including the formation of auroras during geomagnetic storms.
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The red glow observed during launch was an indication of the formation of an ionospheric “hole”.
Space physicist Jeff Baumgardner of Boston University carefully reviewed footage of the launch and shed light on the incident. He explained that it is a well-studied phenomenon when rockets burn their engines at an altitude of 200 to 300 km above the Earth’s surface.
Mr. Baumgardner further elaborated that footage from the July 19 launch showed the second stage engine burning at about 286 km near the F-region peak at that time of day, making it highly possible that an ionospheric “hole” had formed.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is renowned for its reusability and efficiency in carrying people and payloads to Earth orbit and beyond. With a history of 240 launches and 198 successful landings, it has made significant progress in the space exploration industry.
This is not the first time such an incident involving the Falcon 9 rocket has happened.
According to Science Times, similar incidents had happened during previous launches as well. In August 2017, a Falcon 9 was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base carrying the FORMOSAT-5 payload. Due to the low weight of the rocket, it followed a vertical path rather than a trajectory parallel to the Earth’s surface.
The launch created shockwaves that tore a hole in the plasma of the ionosphere, resulting in a similar effect.
Additionally, the June 19, 2022 Falcon 9 launch also saw the formation of an ionospheric “hole”, adding to this event pattern.