How Elon Musk’s SpaceX accidentally helped DARPA build a ‘rocket radar’
SMRTR summary
Researchers on DARPA's AtmoSense program found their atmospheric monitoring technology can detect disturbances from SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets reentering Earth's atmosphere. They observed consistent drops in total electron content during Falcon 9 reentries across multiple launches. This suggests AtmoSense could track various atmospheric events, potentially enhancing national security by monitoring reentry objects. The technology's ability to detect natural and man-made disturbances may lead to new atmospheric sensing techniques.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Interesting Engineering.
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