GoKawiilStudy: Artemis II SLS launch created two 5,000km holes in ionosphere
Researchers at Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University used a ground-based GPS receiver network to analyze the April Artemis II launch, finding it carved two roughly 5,000 km-wide holes in Earth's ionosphere. The disturbance, measured via delays in GPS satellite signals, was reportedly about ten times stronger than disruptions recorded during SpaceX Starship test flights.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The findings suggest that increasingly powerful rockets like NASA's Space Launch System could cause larger and more frequent ionospheric disturbances, which may degrade GPS accuracy for navigation, mapping and other positioning-dependent systems. As launch cadence rises with future Artemis and commercial missions, this research could inform how agencies monitor and mitigate atmospheric side effects of spaceflight.
- Artemis II's SLS launch created two ionospheric holes roughly 5,000 km across, per the study.
- The disturbance was about ten times stronger than those seen in SpaceX Starship tests.
- Ground-based GPS receiver networks, normally used for tracking tectonic activity, were used to detect the effect.
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Published there as: “The NASA Artemis II launch punched two 5,000 km holes in the ionosphere that disrupted GPS signals, study finds”
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