Tracking space debris from sonic booms.

At 1:40 a.m. local time on 2 April 2024, fireballs burned across the Southern California sky as the orbital module from the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft reentered the atmosphere and disintegrated. The point of entry was thousands of kilometers southwest of the anticipated location, the northern Atlantic Ocean, which was indicated by impact prediction messages a few hours before the observation. Uncontrolled reentry of space debris is becoming more frequent because of the increased number of satellites in low-Earth orbit (160 to 2000 km above Earth's surface). Although most space debris is incinerated in the atmosphere, knowing the trajectory of the debris promptly could minimize potential hazards from large pieces that may reach Earth's surface. On page 412 of this issue, Fernando and Charalambous (1) report a method for rapidly determining the trajectory of space debris, representing a crucial step toward near–real-time monitoring of natural and anthropogenic objects entering from space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]