The controlled re-entry of spacecraft into Earth's oceans, known as splashdown, has long been the Gold standard for mission safety, but new research is challenging the assumption that these high-energy impacts are harmless to marine ecosystems.
While the immediate physical damage from a spacecraft splashdown is limited to a small spatial footprint, the cumulative effects of decades of orbital reentries are under renewed scrutiny. As NASA's Artemis II mission nears its final recovery phase in the Pacific, marine biologists and environmental lawyers are raising concerns over acoustic shockwaves, residual propellants, and the long-term accumulation of debris on the seafloor.
