1,300-pound NASA satellite re-enters Earth's atmosphere
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Look up on a clear night and you'll see the streaks of our new space age. What you don't see is the growing fallout for the atmosphere that keeps us alive.
First direct evidence shows rocket reentries can release lithium into the upper atmosphere. Measurements by Robin Wing et al. confirm pollution from a Falcon 9 reentry in February 2025.
When the surface of the Sun exploded with activity in May 2024, Earth was hit by the biggest solar storm in more than two decades. The video shown below—made from images captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory—shows the powerful solar flare and coronal mass ejection that sent an onslaught of charged particles hurtling toward us.
While trying to determine if it could use the entire Earth’s atmosphere as a massive sensor, the US military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) made a highly unusual detection. The agency — which has overseen the development of ...
NASA says its 1,300‑pound Van Allen Probe A is making an uncontrolled reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. Most of the spacecraft is expected to burn up, but late‑stage design changes mean some debris could survive and fall along its equatorial ground track.