Supersonic Waves Generated by the 18 November 2023 Starship Flight and Explosions: Unexpected Northward Propagation and a Man‐Made Non‐chemical Depletion

• Published in: Geophysical research letters 2024-08, Vol.51 (16), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Yasyukevich, Y. V., Vesnin, A. M., Astafyeva, E., Maletckii, B. M., Lebedev, V. P., Padokhin, A. M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustic propagation; Acoustic waves; Altitude; Atmosphere; cone waves; Depletion; Engines; Explosions; Flight; GNSS; Ionosphere; Ionospheric disturbances; ionospheric hole; Lower atmosphere; Rocket launches; Rocket launching; Satellite observation; Sciences of the Universe; Shock wave propagation; Shock waves; Sound propagation; Sound velocity; Sound waves; Spacecraft; Spacecraft power supplies; Spacecraft tracking; Starship; supersonic; Total Electron Content
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/2024GL109284

On 18 November 2023, SpaceX launched the Starship, the tallest and the most powerful rocket ever built. The Super Heavy engine separated from the Starship spacecraft and exploded at 90 km of altitude, while the main core Starship continued to rise up to 149 km and exploded after ∼8 min of flight. In this work, we used data from ground‐based GNSS receivers and we analyzed total electron content (TEC) response to the Starship flight and the two explosions. For the first time, we observed large‐distance northward propagation of intensive 2,000 km V‐shaped ionospheric disturbances from the rocket trajectory. The observed perturbations, most likely, represent shock waves propagating with the cone angle of ∼14° on the North and ∼7° on the South against the flight track that corresponds to the Mach angle of the shock waves in the lower atmosphere. The Starship explosion also produced a non‐chemical depletion in the ionospheric TEC. Plain Language Summary On 18 November 2023, SpaceX launched the Starship, the tallest and the most powerful rocket ever built. About 2 min and 40 s after the liftoff, the Super Heavy engine separated from the Starship spacecraft and exploded at an altitude of 90 km. The main core Starship continued to rise to 149 km and exploded as well. The rocket launch and explosion produced an unexpected response in the ionosphere—the ionized part of the Earth's atmosphere. The Starship flew at a velocity, exceeding the local sound speed, and generated cone‐like atmospheric shock‐acoustic waves. Most unexpectedly, the observed disturbances represented long and intensive multi‐oscillation wave structures that propagated northward, which is unusual for disturbances driven by a rocket launch. The Starship explosion also generated a large‐amplitude total electron content depletion that could have been reinforced by the impact of the spacecraft's fuel exhaust in the lower atmosphere. This study appears to be the first‐time detection of a non‐chemical ionospheric hole produced by a man‐made explosion. Key Points The 18 November 2023 Starship flight and explosions generated large‐scale multi‐oscillation supersonic conic waves in the ionosphere The cone angle of the V‐shaped ionospheric disturbances corresponds to the Mach angle of shock waves propagating in the lower ionosphere The shock waves from the Starship explosion caused a depletion in total electron content (TEC)