Artemis II ionosphere study
2026-11-06 — headlined Artemis II ionosphere study — Researchers at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, in a preprint on the Earth and Space Science Open Archive, report that NASA's Artemis II launch on April 1, 2026 disturbed the ionosphere across roughly 5,000 km of North America — effects up to ten times stronger than those recorded after SpaceX Starship test launches — traced to the upper-stage burns about an hour after lift-off at roughly 185 km altitude, implying potential GPS positioning errors of several metres (International Business Times UK · Primetimer). Co-author Charles Lin: "a positioning error of a couple of meters is enough to cause an autonomous car to change lanes." The study documented no real vehicle errors, and peer-review status is unconfirmed. Watch: peer-reviewed publication, and whether future heavy-lift launches draw similar measurements.