Earthquake sensors can track space junk falling to Earth, study finds
Technology
Turns out, earthquake sensors aren't just for earthquakes—they can actually pick up sonic booms from space junk crashing back to Earth.
A team from Johns Hopkins and Imperial College London used 127 sensors in southern California to trace a Shenzhou module as it reentered the atmosphere in April 2024, moving at crazy speeds of Mach 25-30.
Why does this matter?
Radar struggles to track debris close to Earth, but these dense sensor networks can spot and map falling fragments almost in real time—even when predictions are way off.
That means better chances of finding toxic debris quickly and keeping people safe, especially with more satellites burning up over our heads every day.