Scientists measure air pollution from reentering SpaceX rocket in real-time: 'It's never been done before'

Scientists measure air pollution from reentering SpaceX rocket in real-time: 'It's never been done before'

For the first time ever, scientists have observed in near real time a cloud of air pollution created as a SpaceX rocket burned up in Earth's atmosphere.

How do rocket reentries pollute the upper atmosphere?

Metal plumes, chemical reactions and growing concern When rocket stages or space debris burn up on reentry, they do more than vanish — their materials vaporize and inject metals and reactive compounds into the upper atmosphere. Observations and recent studies have linked specific reentry events to…

Re-entering rocket left trail of lithium pollution in upper atmosphere

New research has found that when a Falcon 9 rocket stage burned up over Europe last year, it left a plume of lithium pollution in the upper atmosphere – the first time scientists have directly measured the chemical footprint of re-entering space debris. The study confirms that material from the disintegrating rocket travelled nearly 1,600km before being detected by a ground-based laser system in northern Germany, approximately 20 hours after the…