A pre-print study by researchers at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, published in Geophysical Research Letters, found the launch and the Orion capsule's orbital maneuvers created three distinct disturbances in the ionosphere — the electrically charged layer above roughly 50 kilometers altitude.

The rocket's supersonic passage generated shock waves that punched holes of depleted electron density into the layer.

The disturbances from Artemis II were stronger than any caused by other rocket launches to date and, per space.com, up to ten times more intense than those observed after SpaceX Starship test flights — a rocket with roughly twice the SLS's liftoff thrust.

Even more surprising, the study says this is the first time a single space mission produced three instances of ionospheric disturbances over the same region during successive orbit maneuvers, including an apogee raise burn and the trans-lunar injection burn that sent Orion toward the Moon.

According to the researchers, the holes stretched across the American continent from east to west like giant 3,100-mile (5,000-kilometer) contrails. Per space.com, two holes were observed — one from the 212-foot (65-meter) SLS core stage and one from two subsequent upper-stage thruster burns.

AOL reports the apogee raise maneuver, initiated at about 115 miles (185 km) altitude, left a 3,107-mile streak of disturbed electrons racing from the Great Plains to the Atlantic at roughly 5.1 miles per second, close to the spacecraft's own speed.

The team, working with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, drew on more than 3,500 ground stations across the United States that receive signals from GPS, GLONASS and Galileo satellites — networks normally used by seismologists to track tiny tectonic motions ahead of earthquakes, according to AOL.

By measuring how long satellite signals took to reach the ground, the researchers reconstructed how the SLS changed free-electron concentrations, mapping changes in total electron content as the upper stage tore through the ionosphere above North America.

Ground stations detected changes in ionospheric electron density equivalent to positioning errors of several meters.

Co-author Charles Lin, an earth science professor at National Cheng Kung University, told space.com that a couple of meters of error is enough to make an autonomous car change lanes, with strong implications for self-driving vehicles and drone positioning.

BBC Sky at Night Magazine notes the Artemis II liftoff itself caused no widespread GPS disruption, but the findings point to potential problems as heavy rocket launches multiply. GPS signals must pass through the ionosphere because the satellites orbit around 12,550 miles up, far above the layer.

Lin's team described the findings as confirmation that major future launches to the Moon and Mars will become a distinct and repeatable source of anthropogenic space weather, beyond well-known launch-stage disturbances — effects Lin told space.com will become much more significant.

AOL notes the team previously recorded a 559-mile hole from a 2017 SpaceX Falcon 9 launch, making this the most dramatic documented case. With Artemis III planned for late 2027 to test Blue Origin and SpaceX lunar landers in Earth orbit, NASA's most powerful rocket will fly again soon.