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SpaceX Rocket Fireball Linked to Plume of Lithium
- On February 19, 2025, a Falcon 9 upper stage fell back in an uncontrolled reentry over Europe, creating a massive fireball and debris that landed near a warehouse in Poland.
- With mega-constellation plans accelerating, commercial launches expand rapidly as SpaceX applied last month to add 1,000,000 satellites and operators allow ageing satellites to re-enter, increasing atmospheric metal deposition.
- Using lidar measurements, Robin Wing at the Leibniz Institute detected a 10-fold lithium spike about 20 hours after the Falcon 9 reentry, tracking a plume from 94 to 97 kilometres altitude for 27 minutes containing 30 kilograms of lithium.
- Vapourised rocket metals form aluminium oxide particles that aid chlorine compounds in breaking down ozone, and researchers estimate spacecraft burn-up releases 1000 tonnes annually, possibly worsening warming.
- Experts predict space-debris particles could grow fiftyfold in the next decade, and the new study published Thursday in Nature says more research is needed on atmospheric impacts.
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49 Articles
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Rocket re-entry pollution measured in atmosphere for first time
When part of a SpaceX rocket re-entered Earth's atmosphere exactly a year ago, it created a spectacuglar fireball that streaked across Europe's skies, delighting stargazers and sending a team of scientists rushing towards their instruments.
Space scrap is already polluting our upper atmosphere today. Researchers can now measure these artificial emissions directly for the first time.
Study on the First Evidence of Air Pollution Associated with the Return of Rockets to the Atmosphere
A year ago, the return to the atmosphere of a part of a SpaceX rocket created a spectacular fireball in the European sky, captivating amateur astronomers and encouraging scientists to analyze the event.
What is left if rockets burn up in the atmosphere? A lithium cloud at a height of 96 kilometres leads researchers to a hot spot.
A random measurement leads to an alarming discovery in the Earth's atmosphere: A science team finds a cloud of lithium that comes from a SpaceX rocket. However, the affected company remains silent.
A Falcon-9 rocket from Space-X has significantly increased the concentration of lithium in the atmosphere during the arbor. The effects of space debris on the climate and the environment are still largely unknown.
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