Scientists issue warning after Elon Musk's Starship failure 'broke the sky'
It's one small step for man, one giant leap for SpaceX, as Elon Musk again tries to push us toward the stars. The world's richest man keeps himself busy with ventures ranging from Tesla to X, the Department of Government Efficiency to SpaceX.
The tech billionaire is somewhat obsessed with space, trying to colonize Mars and maybe even head there himself, as some think he could genuinely be the first President of the Red Giant.
There are fears that Elon Musk's missions could lead to mass casualties, and while SpaceX has had numerous successful missions (even 'rescuing' Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams), there have been some missteps along the way.
March 2025 saw one of his Starships explode in the sky and ground flights as it rained debris, but unfortunately, it wasn't the first time this had happened. Scientists have confirmed that the failed November 2023 test flight blew a literal hole in the atmosphere and led to a phenomenon we've never seen before. And you thought sending Katy Perry to space was bad for the environment.
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Although the rocket's booster separated as it was supposed to, it exploded mid-air just four minutes later before Starship itself was detonated around 93 miles above Earth.
The explosion was so volatile, it tore a hole in the ionosphere, which is the electrically charged layer of the atmosphere that is crucial to radio communication and satellite signals.
Researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics claim it was the first time a rocket explosion has caused such an event.
Lead researcher Yury Yasyukevich explained: "Usually, such holes form due to chemical reactions from engine fuel. But this time, it was caused by the sheer shock wave from the Starship explosion."
Yasyukevich's team used data from satellites and ground observatories, noting how the 'gaping' hole stayed open for up to 40 minutes before it naturally healed itself.
Musk maintains that the rocket would've made it into orbit if it had the right payload.
Yasyukevich and the researchers wanted to see how explosions like this could affect the ionosphere that extends from 50 to 1,000 kilometres above sea level. A tiny percentage of the ionosphere’s mass includes electrons and positively charged ions, with the rest of the molecules being neutral.
They deduced that Starship's explosion sent out a shockwave that scattered the free electrons and disrupted the plasma to create a 'hole' in the ionosphere. It could also be that rocket fuel, which didn't burn up in the immediate explosion, might've reacted with the ionosphere and “reinforced the depletion and extended its duration."
As for the rocket's explosion, Yasyukevich warns what this could mean for the future of space travel.
Saying that, "It means we don’t understand processes which take place in the atmosphere," Yasyukevich added that the phenomenon could impact future autonomous vehicles that might need precision satellite navigation.