Recent research has revealed that the high-altitude explosion of SpaceX’s Starship rocket during its second test flight in November 2023 temporarily tore a hole in the ionosphere, the uppermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere.The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, was conducted by a team of researchers led by Yury Yasyukevich at the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics. This discovery highlights the significant impact that human-made explosions can have on Earth’s atmosphere.What Happened During the Starship Flight?On November 18, 2023, SpaceX launched its Starship rocket from the…