back to article SpaceX blasted massive plasma hole in Earth's ionosphere

A SpaceX rocket ripped a humongous hole in Earth’s ionosphere during a launch in California last year and may have impaired GPS satellites. The Falcon 9 rocket was blasted from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 24 August last year. It was carrying the Formosat-5, an Earth observation satellite, built by the Taiwan’s National Space …

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  1. DrMordrid

    Yawn

    This GPS effect happens to a greater degree with other events as well, and the only reason the big shockwave happened this time was the satellite needed a more vertical trajectory. Most fly with a more horizontal trajectory, pitching over shortly aftrr launch.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Yawn

      The unusual trajectory was noted in the article.

      The implications for the future come from a combination of more rocket launches and greater use of GPS.

      1. Peter Ford

        Re: Yawn

        Surely in the future we'll have a space elevator and rocket launches will be a thing of the past...

        1. Dave 126 Silver badge

          Re: Yawn

          Space Elevators push the limits of what materials are theoretically capable of - and without a safety factor (typically 3x for bridges, 1.5 for aircraft).

          It's pleasing that such structures were considered by Buckminster Fuller, and after his death his name was given to the class of materials that come closest to making Space Elevators possible. If we could get the materials, the construction would still require a lot of rocket launches - at least until we can gather and fabricate material in space.

          Still, The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C Clarke is a good read (and the author's notes a good background on those who first conceived of the idea) and Feersum Enjinn by Iain M Banks is just staggering.

          1. Killing Time

            Re: Yawn

            @Dave126

            'Feersum Enjinn by Iain M Banks is just staggering.'

            nd vry difcult to reed....

            1. Julz

              Re: Yawn

              Not if your dyslexic

        2. Tom 7

          Re: Yawn Space elevators

          And the space elevator tether will knock all the satellites out!

          1. BebopWeBop

            Re: Yawn Space elevators

            Well put a little man on the end and have him sweep up the mess - one way of removing the wreckage (lots of it) out there.

        3. phuzz Silver badge

          Re: Yawn

          Who knows what effect a bloody great cable going all the way through the atmosphere would have on the ionosphere?

          And as others have mentioned, Arthur C. Clarke's book The Fountains of Paradise is well worth a read.

          1. MrXavia

            Re: Yawn

            I always thought an active structure is a better way we can build a space elevator than just relying on materials...

            plus it could be built from the ground up, no need to launch rockets with all the materials first.

            1. Richard 12 Silver badge

              Space Fountain!

              The great advantage is that we could build one with today's technology.

              The great disadvantage is that it collapses if you turn off the power.

              1. Alan Brown Silver badge

                Re: Space Fountain!

                "The great advantage is that we could build one with today's technology."

                We could build a Lofstrom loop too.

                "The great disadvantage is that it collapses if you turn off the power."

                Ditto

    2. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Meh

      Re: Yawn

      "Disruptions in the ionosphere are to be expected for every rocket launch and are also detected during volcano blasts and solar flares."

      And don't forget meteorites. Those that are large enough to hit the ground most likely create the same KINDS of "problems" in the ionosphere.

      The *EARTH* is *NOT* *THAT* *FRAGILE*. And _natural_ processes do the SAME THING, and usually to a greater extent than ANYTHING humans can do. I mean, seriously, ONE ROCKET did "all that" ? I have my doubts!

      1. Uffish

        Re: Bombasticisms

        Did the article say the earth was permanently damaged? It did say that GPS readings were slightly affected. No big deal, except maybe for all of the precision measurements that were taken under the 'hole'. I know that if I had been surveying some affected area during that time I would be obliged to go out and at least check my measurements, just for insurance purposes.

      2. Orv Silver badge

        Re: Yawn

        The *EARTH* is *NOT* *THAT* *FRAGILE*.

        When people assert this as if it's an iron-clad fact, I'm always reminded of the people who said we could never run out of passenger pigeons, because God would never let one of his creations go extinct.

        (This particular effect, though, does seem to be no big deal except for radio services. It's probably worth learning more about, though, so we can anticipate it for other big launches.)

    3. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

      Re: Yawn

      I think the tone of the article is that the effect was somewhat unexpected so we should aim lots of scientific instruments at the next launch to see why our modeling was wrong.

  2. TonyJ

    SAW?

    I don't know...probably just me, and it being a Friday and all but surely it should be ASW, as in Acoustic Shock Waves rather than SAW...it just doesn't read right.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: SAW?

      Doesn't SAW usually stand for surface acoustic wave?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Doesn't SAW usually stand for surface acoustic wave?

        Someone will be along in a minute to claim it means "Social Action Warrior"

        SAW has superceeded "SJW", because "justice" is, er, I dunno, a word loaded with outdated reactionary moral value judgements, or something. :-)

    2. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

      Re: SAW?

      Note that for naming the ionospheric response of the shock wave, the literature uses terminology incorporating a different physical interpretation, among them the term ‘shock-acoustic wave’ (SAW) (Nagorsky, 1998).

      [SOURCE]

      1. TonyJ

        Re: SAW?

        @Brewster

        Ahh...thank you for that. That missing hyphon makes it look much better and more readable.

    3. Tannin

      Re: SAW?

      SAW usually for stands Anti Submarine Warfare. (Sorry, this subject on-brings my lexdixia.)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    "The particularly large circular size of the shock wave"

    So it was a circular-SAW ?

    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: "The particularly large circular size of the shock wave"

      ..and if you were watching it happen it'd be a see-SAW.

      1. TheRealRoland

        Re: "The particularly large circular size of the shock wave"

        I saw what you did there...

      2. jimdandy
        Windows

        Re: "The particularly large circular size of the shock wave"

        Or SAW is equally a Squad Assault Weapon, a particularly handy thing to have when you aren't sure what you're going to find when you get there...wherever THERE is. Luckily that device's propellants don't need any extra oxygen.

        But in free-fall, you'd better have a leg wrapped around a stanchion when you pull the trigger. And be prepared to re-adjust your position after you release the trigger.

  4. MondoMan
    Devil

    Really caused by red Lectroids

    They're upset that Lord John Whorfin is loose again...

    1. Flakk

      Re: Really caused by red Lectroids

      Blue Blaze Irregulars in the Golden State have been mobilized. Reno and Perfect Tommy are heading up the strike team. Once the situation is contained, the Hong Kong Cavaliers are supposed to play the Palladium.

  5. x 7

    So the rocket wasn't guided by GPS?

  6. James Cullingham

    Disturbances in the wash (Eddies in the space-time continuum)

    https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/950420-i-have-detected-he-said-disturbances-in-the-wash

  7. diver_dave

    El Reg Standard Handbook

    Interesting read here:

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Many-Molehills-Mountain-Marcus-Weeks/dp/190733226X

    Although Sheep in a Vacuum and Norris's do not seem to be in the updated edition.

    DaveA

  8. Blockchain commentard

    And this is why Musk wants to send us to Mars (and beyond) - it's his flipping rockets wiping out the ozone layer, making it lethal to live on the surface.

    Bah humbug !!! Why doesn't he do something useful like invent electric spaceships.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    OMG!!

    So in summary, nothing happened.

  10. Flakk

    Interesting

    I've never heard of the Advancing Earth and Space Science Journal before. Neither has Wikipedia. Or my search engine.

    I think I'll wash a grain of salt down with some GMO Berkeley beer.

    1. Frank Marsh

      Re: Interesting

      Hmm... I think the Editor may have glossed over that a bit too quickly. The actual journal appears to be Space Weather from the American Geophysical Union. "Advancing Earth and Space Science" is simply a tagline on their website.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Satellites allegedly impaired

    From article:

    >A SpaceX rocket ripped a humongous hole in Earth’s ionosphere during a launch in California last year and may have impaired GPS satellites.

    Really? How were the satellites impaired? I can see that satellite receiver models of the ionospheric propagation model were impaired resulting in reduced accuracy but that is not what the article states. And was not then not corrected by SBAS? And will the satellites recover in the view of The Reg?

  12. asphytxtc
    Facepalm

    So in summary...

    Thing punching hole through ionosphere, punches hole in ionosphere.

    Ionosphere recovers within hours, like it does every time something punches a hole in it.

    GPS *SIGNALS MAY* have been affected, although no study was actually done to measure the actual effect on GPS signals.

    ...

    Slow news day?

  13. breakfast Silver badge
    Coat

    More like the I...OH NO... sphere.

  14. Richard Boyce

    Unusual trajectory

    Why was the trajectory unusually vertical?

    The satellite required a near-polar orbit, but it still needed to obtain orbital speed, so one would think that building that speed early to reduce gravity drag would be important.

    Was the desire to recover the booster a factor?

    1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Unusual trajectory

      ROOSTA:

      They’re not. They’re taking the building!

      [Sound of air whoosing past the building]

      ZAPHOD:

      Wha-what have I done to deserve this? I walk into a building…they take it away.

  15. Slx

    I've always thought that the best approach would be to float something up to the edge of the atmosphere then have a much smaller rocket blast to get it out into space.

    Using huge rockets just seems unnecessarily crude.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      This is a interesting idea! Surely they must have considered this... wonder why they don't do this?

      1. Richard Boyce

        Besides other things mentioned, I guess it would rule out the use of cryogenic propellants such as liquid oxygen. By the time, you got the rocket up to height, it'd be covered in ice and a lot of propellant would have boiled of

        Also, recovering the rocket and payload if there was an aborted launch would be a problem.

        1. Tannin

          Re Richard Boyce.

          It is routine to use cyrogenic propellants in upper stages of existing rockets, so I doubt that this would be a problem. I'm not sure how the engineers do it but, as an example, the upper stages of the Saturn 5 way back in the 1960s, having been lifted by a LOX - kerosene first stage, used LOX - liquid hydrogen. (Hydrogen for the upper stages because, although it's difficult to handle, it delivers twice as much thrust as kerosene.) For subsequent uses (e.g., the lunar lander) they preferred hypergolics because these provide reliable stop and restart.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Like the B52s carrying the X15 up before launch? I believe Paul Allen just wheeled out his humongous prototype for taxi tests. And of course, it's also been done with the venture Branson is now(?) selling tickets for.

      1. Sgt_Oddball
        Paris Hilton

        Wasn't that pretty much what LOHAN is supposed to do? (If she ever gets off)

        Paris because the reg had been there before.

        1. ravenviz Silver badge

          Maybe Skylon space plane is what you are looking for.

    3. Timbo

      "I've always thought that the best approach would be to float something up to the edge of the atmosphere then have a much smaller rocket blast to get it out into space."

      You still need to reach "escape velocity" although having used say a large helium balloon to get to the brink of the atmosphere, you wouldn't in principle then need as big a rocket to go the final few km.

      But you'd still have to accelerate much more quickly to reach the required velocity and that might put larger G forces on the payload.

      Time might also be an issue as it will take longer for a balloon to "float" up to the required altitude and it will be dependant on wind speed too - as you wouldn't want it in the wrong place so it cannot achieve the correct orbit or geostationary position. Also, I guess the helium would be lost so that would be a cost issue?

      Of course Virgin Galactic are still planning to use a larger "mothership" to fly a smaller passenger craft up to the edge of the atmos.

      1. JeffyPoooh
        Pint

        "...still need to reach '[orbital] velocity'..."

        Under your chair you will find a very special balloon and a satellite (the payload).

        Balloon McBalloonface carries the satellite and continues to float up slowly, straight up and up and up..., and gently deposits the satellite payload into a geostationary orbital slot. Where of course, it stays.

        Discuss...

        1. ChrisBedford

          Re: "...still need to reach '[orbital] velocity'..."

          Balloon McBalloonface carries the satellite and continues to float up slowly, straight up and up and up..., and gently deposits the satellite payload into a geostationary orbital slot. Where of course, it stays.

          Ummm. You posted this as a joke, right? You do realise a balloon (aka lighter than air flight) can only take a payload as far as there is air? And that geostationary (or any other) orbit is "somewhat" beyond that?

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