Standfirst: NASA’s Artemis II mission left temporary disturbances in the ionosphere — the upper layer of Earth’s atmosphere — stretching about 3,100 miles across North America, according to a new study. Ground-based GPS stations detected changes equal to positioning errors of several meters, but the effects faded after about an hour, and no broad GPS outage was reported.
What the study found
- The mission: NASA’s Artemis II mission launched on April 1, 2026 and splashed down on April 10, 2026, sending a crew of four astronauts on a flight around the Moon. It was the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years.
- The researchers: The new study was carried out by researchers at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan.
- The headline finding: The study found that the mission produced three separate ionospheric disturbances over the same region. Each disturbance was a temporary region in the ionosphere where free electrons were depleted — in plain terms, a temporary change in the charged particles high above Earth, not a tear in the sky.
- The data: The study used data from about 3,500 GPS/GNSS ground stations across the Americas. Those stations track signals from navigation satellites, and changes in those signals can show when the ionosphere has been disturbed.
- A first: According to the study, it is the first time a single space mission produced three instances of ionospheric disturbances over the same region during successive maneuvers. That is what makes the finding stand out: not one disturbance, but three, from the same mission, over the same region, one after another.
- Important caveat: The study is a preprint published in Geophysical Research Letters / ESS Open Archive and has not yet been peer-reviewed. That means other scientists have not yet formally checked the work through peer review. This article reports the study’s findings as the researchers presented them, and it does not present them as settled peer-reviewed science.
Three disturbances, one mission
- Disturbance 1 — the launch: The first disturbance came from the launch itself, on April 1, 22:35 UT.
- Disturbance 2 — the Apogee Raise Maneuver: The second came from an Apogee Raise Maneuver about 2 hours later. An apogee raise is a maneuver that lifts the high point of the spacecraft’s path, and in this case it produced a second disturbance in the same region.
- Disturbance 3 — the trans-lunar injection burn: The third came from a trans-lunar injection burn about 25 hours after liftoff. That is the burn that sends a spacecraft on its path toward the Moon, and it produced the third disturbance over the same region.
- The same region, three times: The key point is the repeat. Three separate maneuvers, spread over about a day, each left a disturbance over the same region. The study’s authors counted three instances, not one, and that repeat is the finding the study is built around.
- Where the burns happened: The upper-stage engine burns took place directly inside the ionosphere, at around 115 miles (185 km) altitude. Because the burns happened inside that layer of the upper atmosphere, rather than below it or far above it, their exhaust could interact with the charged particles there — and that is how the disturbances formed.
How big was the effect
- Distance: The disturbances stretched about 3,100 miles (5,000 km) east to west across North America. That is a very wide span — roughly the width of the continent — and it shows that the effect was not confined to the area right above the launch site.
- Intensity: The disturbances were up to 10 times more intense than those seen after SpaceX Starship test launches. That comparison gives readers a sense of scale: earlier rocket launches had left disturbances too, but the ones linked to Artemis II were measured as far stronger, by up to ten times.
- What “intense” means here: The study measured the disturbances through the GPS/GNSS stations, which detected changes in the satellite signals passing through the ionosphere. A stronger disturbance means a larger change in those signals, and in this case the changes were large enough to equal positioning errors of several meters.
- How the size was measured: The study drew on about 3,500 GPS/GNSS ground stations across the Americas, so the picture of the disturbances comes from a wide network of ground stations, not from a single reading. The stations are spread across the Americas, and together they traced disturbances stretching about 3,100 miles east to west. Space telescopes have also been busy closer to home, as our report on the Webb telescope’s look at interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS shows.
Did GPS actually break?
- Short answer: No — there was no broad GPS outage. The study found brief, localized effects, and no broad GPS outage was reported.
- What was detected: Ground-based GPS stations detected changes equivalent to positioning errors of several meters. In other words, a GPS reading taken through the disturbed region could have been off by several meters for a short time. That is a real effect, and it is the effect the study measured, but it is not the same as GPS stopping working.
- Temporary effects: The effects were temporary. The disturbed trails faded after about an hour, according to the study. The disturbances did not last, and they did not spread into a lasting problem for navigation signals.
- Why the wording matters: Some headlines about this study have used dramatic language about holes in the atmosphere. That language is misleading. The study describes temporary regions where free electrons were depleted — a change in the charged particles in the upper atmosphere that faded after about an hour. It does not describe a hole torn in the atmosphere, and it does not describe lasting damage.
- The honest summary: GPS signals passing through the disturbed region could have shown errors of several meters for a short time, and then the effect faded. No broad outage was reported, and the disturbances were gone after about an hour.
Why this launch was different
- Three in a row: The main reason this launch stands out is the repeat: three disturbances from one mission, over the same region, during successive maneuvers. Earlier missions had produced disturbances, but this study says no single mission had produced three over the same region before.
- Burns inside the ionosphere: The upper-stage engine burns took place directly inside the ionosphere, at around 115 miles (185 km) altitude. That placement matters, because the exhaust went straight into the layer where the disturbances form.
- Stronger than Starship: The disturbances were up to 10 times more intense than those seen after SpaceX Starship test launches, which gives a direct comparison with another large rocket program. Artemis II’s effects were measured as far stronger on that comparison.
- A wide network saw it: The finding rests on data from about 3,500 GPS/GNSS ground stations across the Americas, so the result comes from a broad set of measurements spread across the continent, not from one station or one reading.
What the study does not prove yet
- It is a preprint: The most important limit on this story is that the study is a preprint published in Geophysical Research Letters / ESS Open Archive and has not yet been peer-reviewed. Peer review is the process in which other scientists check a study’s methods and findings before it is formally published, and that step has not happened yet for this work.
- What that means for readers: The findings should be read as new research that has been shared for other scientists to examine, not as settled science. The numbers in this article — 3,100 miles, 10 times more intense, several meters of GPS error, about an hour before the trails faded — are the study’s reported findings, and they may be checked, challenged or refined as other scientists review the work.
- What the study does not claim: The study does not claim that GPS broke, and it does not claim lasting damage to the atmosphere. It reports temporary disturbances that faded after about an hour, with brief GPS effects and no broad GPS outage reported. Readers should hold on to that limit: temporary, not permanent; brief errors, not a breakdown.
- What to watch next: The next step is peer review. If the study passes peer review, its findings will carry more weight. If reviewers raise questions, the findings may be revised. Either way, the story is not finished, and the preprint status is part of the story, not a detail to leave out.
- The bottom line: A major Moon mission left three temporary disturbances in the upper atmosphere over North America, strong enough to shift GPS readings by several meters for a short time, and then they faded. That is a striking finding — and it is still waiting for peer review. Astronomers have also reported a possible new dwarf planet found beyond Pluto.
Related coverage: For a look at the season ahead, see the NOAA winter outlook: warmer in the north, wetter in the south.
Sources
- Space.com via Starlust — https://starlust.org/artemis-ii-left-temporary-holes-in-earths-upper-atmosphere-that-could-have-affected-gps-new-study-finds/
- Spaceweather — https://jaguarspirit.com/2026/10/27/spaceweather-plasma-contrails-disturbing-the-ionosphere/
- ESS Open Archive preprint — https://essopenarchive.org/doi/full/10.22541/essoar.15006449/v1
