As part of the Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou-15 tumbled back to Earth, its disintegration was tracked by a surprising source: seismometers.
Seismic networks in southern California picked up ground vibrations induced by shock waves as the spacecraft entered Earth’s atmosphere on April 2, 2024. Using that data, scientists were able to track the trajectory of spacecraft bits more accurately than relying on existing ways to predict it, the team reports January 22 in Science. That suggests that networks designed to detect earthquakes can also track falling space junk — defunct spacecraft or abandoned launch hardware that can pose risks to people and infrastructure.
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