Engine burns by NASA’s Artemis II rocket and spacecraft this spring disturbed Earth’s upper atmosphere and disrupted signals from satellites, including GPS, according to a preprint study.
The April 1 launch sent astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
Researchers at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan detected large disturbances in the ionosphere, the largest stretching more than 3,100 miles across North America, altering satellite signals.
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The signals were received at more than 3,500 ground stations across the Americas. Changes in the signals reveal changes in the concentration of free electrons in the ionosphere, the electrically charged layer of Earth’s upper atmosphere.
Charles Lin, the study’s corresponding author, told Space.com that errors of several meters could affect self-driving cars and drone positioning.
Disturbances were detected at three points during the mission.
The first came at liftoff and was relatively weak. The authors said the rocket flew over open ocean with few ground receivers, which may have limited what they could detect.
The second was far more widespread. About 108 minutes after launch, the rocket’s upper stage began firing at an altitude of about 115 miles and burned for roughly 18 minutes while inside the ionosphere. That burn produced disturbances stretching more than 3,100 miles that moved at roughly the speed of the spacecraft.
The authors said it is the first time such large, elongated disturbances have been reported from a spacecraft launch.
About 25 hours after liftoff, the Orion capsule’s own engine fired for nearly six minutes to send the crew toward the moon. It produced a similar but weaker pattern that covered less than half the distance.
The authors attributed the difference to energy. The upper-stage burn deposited about 18 times as much as the Orion burn.
The authors concluded that engine burns inside the ionosphere are a distinct and repeatable source of human-made space weather. They said future missions that perform similar maneuvers should be monitored to assess the effects on the ionosphere, satellite navigation applications and high-frequency communications.
The study, posted July 22, has not been peer-reviewed, and the authors said the data may be preliminary.
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