{"id":178199,"date":"2023-12-13T02:38:01","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T08:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/scientists-warn-that-spacex-launches-are-tearing-small-holes-in-the-sky"},"modified":"2023-12-13T02:38:01","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T08:38:01","slug":"scientists-warn-that-spacex-launches-are-tearing-small-holes-in-the-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/scientists-warn-that-spacex-launches-are-tearing-small-holes-in-the-sky","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Warn That SpaceX Launches Are Tearing Small Holes in the Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/scientists-warn-that-spacex-launches-are-tearing-small-holes-in-the-sky2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>SpaceX rockets are tearing holes in the Earth\u2019s atmosphere as they make their return to the surface, triggering what scientists are calling \u201cSpaceX auroras,\u201d a newly coined term that refers to red, spherical spots in the night sky that can easily be seen with the naked eye.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spaceweather.com\/archive.php?view=1&day=21&month=11&year=2023\" class=\"\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/Spaceweather.com\">Spaceweather.com<\/a><\/em> reports<\/a>, the name isn\u2019t entirely accurate as they\u2019re technically not auroras. They\u2019re the result of SpaceX rockets burning their engines in the Earth\u2019s ionosphere, a part of the upper atmosphere where solar radiation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swpc.noaa.gov\/phenomena\/ionosphere#:~:text=The%20Ionosphere%20is%20part%20of, used%20for%20communication%20and%20navigation.\" class=\"\">ionizes atoms<\/a> and molecules to create a protective layer of electrons.<\/p>\n<p>That means that as the rocketmaker ratchets up its launch schedule, that could be a problem, because the ionosphere serves an important technical function by ensuring the stability of shortwave radio communication and GPS signals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX rockets are tearing holes in the Earth\u2019s atmosphere as they make their return to the surface, triggering what scientists are calling \u201cSpaceX auroras,\u201d a newly coined term that refers to red, spherical spots in the night sky that can easily be seen with the naked eye. As Spaceweather.com reports, the name isn\u2019t entirely accurate [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,1514],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-particle-physics","category-space-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}