US space scientist alleges that the SpaceX rocket created a breach in the ionosphere.
According to American space scientist Jeff Baumgardner, a Falcon 9 rocket launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX earlier this month created a brief breach in the ionosphere of Earth.
According to American space scientist Jeff Baumgardner, a Falcon 9 rocket launched earlier this month by Elon Musk's SpaceX created a brief breach in the ionosphere.
On July 19, Falcon 9, a reusable two-stage rocket intended for the safe and dependable transportation of payloads and people into Earth's orbit and beyond, was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Baumgardner examined photos of the sky over Arizona taken shortly after the launch, which showed a faint red glow in the wake of the rocket, which he claims confirms the rocket punched a hole in the ionosphere.
"This is a well-studied phenomenon when rockets are burning their engines 200 to 300 km above Earth's surface," Baumgardner was cited as saying by spaceweather.com. "I watched the video from the launch on July 19th. It depicts the second stage engine operating at 286 km, which is close to the F-region peak at that hour. So it is very likely that an ionospheric 'hole' was created, he said.
The ionosphere, according to NASA, is the layer of the atmosphere that precedes space and is made up of charged particles known as ions. It extends from 50 to 400 miles above the earth, roughly.
The ionosphere, the ionized portion of Earth's upper atmosphere, is what causes geomagnetic storms to result in auroras because solar plasma reacts with the ions there to produce the stunning colors visible in the sky.
A'space jellyfish' fireball was produced by a SpaceX rocket above South Carolina last year. Numerous times in the past, right after the launch of SpaceX rockets, hazy lights have been seen in the sky. Last year, Musk also shared a photo of the lights above Los Angeles.
It's because rockets that travel quickly and their exhaust gasses change how the ionosphere is ionized. Rockets release carbon dioxide and water as they fly, which can reduce local ionization by up to 70%. According to Newsweek, oxygen ions interacting with rocket exhaust release light with the same wavelength as red auroras, giving the hole in the ionosphere its distinctive red color.
Hindi language:
अमेरिकी अंतरिक्ष वैज्ञानिक का आरोप है कि स्पेसएक्स रॉकेट ने आयनमंडल में दरार पैदा कर दी।
