DARPA accidentally detects SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket reentry by listening to Earth's atmosphere
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Researchers with the U.S. military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have successfully used Earth's atmosphere as a sensor to detect a distant disturbance.
DARPA's AtmoSense program aims to study how sound waves or electromagnetic frequencies travel through Earth's atmosphere, and to find ways to use these waves as a "global sensor" to detect and pinpoint disturbances such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.
But researchers with the AtmoSense program found that, when studying waves created by controlled explosions in New Mexico, they were also able to detect atmospheric disturbances created by a Space Falcon 9 rocket reentry. "The phenomenon is highly repeatable," said Michael Nayak, AtmoSense program manager, in a DARPA statement. "We discovered an unplanned new technique for identifying objects entering the earth's atmosphere."
Nayak explained that the technique works by measuring flows of electrons in the atmosphere, comparing them to water streaming from a hose.
"That's a flow of electrons, and if you put your fist in front of the hose, you'll notice a significant drop in water volume coming out of the hose," Nayak said in the statement.
Once the team noticed the dip in electron content, they were able to pinpoint its location and determine that it correlated with a Falcon 9 reentry the same day.
The data showed that the AtmoSesne project can detect more than just ground-based disturbances like earthquakes, but also those that take place in air or space that are "of interest to national security," DARPA wrote in the statement.
RELATED STORIES:
— What is DARPA?
— DARPA picks Northrop Grumman to develop 'lunar railroad' concept
— DARPA wants new ideas for space weapons
Researchers with the program are planning a virtual workshop in April to share their progress with both the scientific and national security communities and to explore potential applications for AtmoSense.
DARPA's aim for the program is to be eventually be able to sense atmospheric waves created from events anywhere in the world.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pacific spiny lumpsucker: The adorable little fish with a weird suction cup resembling human teeth
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. QUICK FACTS Name: Pacific spiny lumpsucker (Eumicrotremus orbis) Where it lives: Northern Pacific, from Washington to Japan and north into the Bering Sea What it eats: Small fish, jellyfish, ctenophores, crustaceans, polychaetes Pacific spiny lumpsuckers' tiny, plump bodies and adorable appearance make them essentially wild kawaii. They are awkward swimmers, so to avoid being swept off by currents in their coastal homes, their pelvic fin has evolved to act as a suction cup, enabling them to anchor themselves to a stable surface. At just 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 centimeters) long, they are the smallest of the 27 species of lumpsuckers, also called lumpfish, some of which can grow as long as two feet (61 cm). Lumpfish are in the same order, Scorpaeniformes, as blobfish, sea robins and stonefish. Pacific spiny lumpsuckers are small, globular fish with extra-small fins which they flap wildly to get around. It makes them able-but-awkward swimmers. Living close to the coast and facing the pulls of tides and strong currents, their pelvic fins are fused to form a surprisingly strong sucker disc which lets them attach to rocks, coral or kelp, and, in aquariums, even to the side of a tank. These sucker discs are a bit fearsome to look at from the underside – like a lamprey with a circle of human teeth. That's because, like our teeth, those of the Pacific spiny lumpsucker are made from enamel. The disc also emits a green and yellow glow — though the reasons for this are not known. Males are usually red (see 'concerned strawberries') and glow red under ultraviolet light, while females are usually green to brown and don't glow under UV rays. RELATED STORIES —Pelican eel: The midnight zone 'gulper' with a giant mouth to swallow animals bigger than itself —Pearlfish: The eel-like fish that lives up a sea cucumber's butt —Pigbutt worm: The deep-sea 'mystery blob' with the rump of a pig and a ballooned belly When it's time to reproduce, only the males settle down. They stake out a territory, usually a shallow depression in warmer water where the females lay their eggs. The male fertilizes them and then she leaves and he tends to and guards the next generation from lumpsuckers don't yet have a defense the adults have — rows of enamel bumps called odontodes covering their bodies, including that toothy-looking circle on their undersides. Eventually, they will grow odontodes in spiral rows all around their bodies to protect them against predators and collisions with rough surfaces.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
SpaceX launches satellite for SiriusXM from Florida
June 7 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched SiriusXM's second new satellite into orbit from Florida early Saturday after five delays. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 12:54 a.m. EDT from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. About 8 1/2 minutes later, the first-stage booster landed on SpaceX's drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the eighth flight for the Falcon 9 booster, including a Crew-9 and three Starlink missions. After 33 minutes, the 4,100-pound SXM-10 satellite was sent to a geosynchronous transfer orbit high above Earth, meaning it is synchronous with the planet's rotation. It was SpaceX's 48th orbital rocket launch this year from Cape Canaveral or nearby Kennedy Space Center. Counting the California launch site, there have been 69 Falcon 9 missions with 51 involving Starlink in 2025, reported. Earlier Friday, there was a lightning warning for the area, Florida Today reported. On Dec. 5, SpaceX launched the SXM-9 for SiriusXM. In all, SiriusXM will have seven functional satellites with SXM-10's availability. Maxar Space Systems built both satellites, which beam radio and internet programming for SiriusXM's subscribers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The SXM-10 satellite arrived at Cape Canaveral on May 15. "This latest satellite marks another milestone in our over two-decade partnership with SiriusXM, supporting the continued evolution of their satellite radio network," Maxar posted on X. SiriusXM is planning to launch two more satellites. "SiriusXM is committed to cutting-edge technology and enhancing the proprietary satellite delivery systems that help power our audio entertainment and information service offerings," Bridget Neville, SiriusXM's senior vice president and general manager of Signal Distribution Engineering said in December, adding they "will strengthen the health of our satellite fleet for decades to come and allow our team to continue innovating far into the future." The next Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites is scheduled for 6:34 a.m. PDT Sunday from Vandenberg Space Force Base's pad 4E in California. In Florida, SpaceX next plans to launch the fourth Axiom private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon mission is scheduled for 8:22 a.m. Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center pad 39A in conjunction with NASA. Axiom Space and SpaceX are planning coverage to start at 6:15 a.m. and NASA at 7:25 a.m. Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission.
UPI
4 hours ago
- UPI
SpaceX launches satellite for SiriusXM from Florida
SpaceX early Saturday launched a SiriusXM SXM-10 satellite into orbit from Florida. Photo by SpaceX June 7 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched SiriusXM's second new satellite into orbit from Florida early Saturday after five delays. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 12:54 a.m. EDT from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. About 8 1/2 minutes later, the first-stage booster landed on SpaceX's drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the eighth flight for the Falcon 9 booster, including a Crew-9 and three Starlink missions. After 33 minutes, the 4,100-pound SXM-10 satellite was sent to a geosynchronous transfer orbit high above Earth, meaning it is synchronous with the planet's rotation. It was SpaceX's 48th orbital rocket launch this year from Cape Canaveral or nearby Kennedy Space Center. Counting the California launch site, there have been 69 Falcon 9 missions with 51 involving Starlink in 2025, reported. Earlier Friday, there was a lightning warning for the area, Florida Today reported. On Dec. 5, SpaceX launched the SXM-9 for SiriusXM. In all, SiriusXM will have seven functional satellites with SXM-10's availability. Maxar Space Systems built both satellites, which beam radio and internet programming for SiriusXM's subscribers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The SXM-10 satellite arrived at Cape Canaveral on May 15. "This latest satellite marks another milestone in our over two-decade partnership with SiriusXM, supporting the continued evolution of their satellite radio network," Maxar posted on X. SiriusXM is planning to launch two more satellites. "SiriusXM is committed to cutting-edge technology and enhancing the proprietary satellite delivery systems that help power our audio entertainment and information service offerings," Bridget Neville, SiriusXM's senior vice president and general manager of Signal Distribution Engineering said in December, adding they "will strengthen the health of our satellite fleet for decades to come and allow our team to continue innovating far into the future." The next Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites is scheduled for 6:34 a.m. PDT Sunday from Vandenberg Space Force Base's pad 4E in California. In Florida, SpaceX next plans to launch the fourth Axiom private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon mission is scheduled for 8:22 a.m. Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center pad 39A in conjunction with NASA. Axiom Space and SpaceX are planning coverage to start at 6:15 a.m. and NASA at 7:25 a.m. Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission.
