The concussive sonic boom of the Starship system’s Super Heavy rocket can threaten hearing and homes near the launch site.
The arm in the launch tower was hit by a Super Heavy booster in mid-air on October 13. Image: AFP
In the test in October, the Super Heavy booster flew up, just a few minutes after launch it burned the engine to slow down and return to the launch tower on the robot arm. As the Super Heavy booster returned to its intended landing site, a deafening sonic boom rang out. “It was truly one of the loudest sounds I’ve ever heard,” said Noah Pulsipher, an applied physics student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, who co-authored a recent study on associated noise. with Starship launch operations, said above CNN.
The sound can be heard from kilometers away, and is as loud as gunshots at close range, according to research published in the journal JASA Express Letters.
A similar sonic boom is expected each time SpaceX returns the Super Heavy booster to the Starbase launch site located near Brownsville, Texas, which borders Mexico at the state’s southernmost point. To date, the company has conducted six test flights of the Starship rocket system in full stack configuration, but only the fifth flight in October had the Super Heavy rocket return to land.
Federal authorities have authorized the next flight, Flight 7, in which the Super Heavy booster can fly again and land. As the lower stage of the Starship system, the booster rocket initially carries the Starship spacecraft located on the upper stage into orbit before returning to the launch pad. The sonic boom associated with that activity could raise new environmental concerns about the missile development program.
Problems associated with sonic booms can include the possibility of hearing damage or lead to minor structural problems with buildings in areas near the Gulf of Mexico. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, denied recent reports about the dangers of sonic booms. Although no property damage was reported after the Super Heavy’s first soft landing in October, the team said they needed more data to fully understand the risk.
If SpaceX aims to conduct dozens or even hundreds of Starship launches per year, that goal will raise questions about the reaction of local communities around the company’s launch site and whether the new super rocket can protested like other famous vehicles that have caused controversy over whether or not sonic booms sound.
Potential danger
Researchers and regulators are working to assess the risk that sonic booms may pose to the surrounding area. “Anytime you encounter deafening sounds above 140 decibels, the risk of hearing loss is significant. The sonic boom from Starship’s October launch reached 146 decibels in some areas, like hearing The sound of shooting was just a few meters away without any protective equipment,” Gee said.
According to him, the pressure and noise level measured by the research team at Brigham Young revealed that the sonic boom reached a level that could break glass windows in some areas, especially old, damaged or only one-layer types. . According to Gee, while the threat to people and property is certainly minimal, it is unclear how the sonic boom will impact the South Texas community around the Starship landing site. Gee and his colleagues will need more data on sonic booms and how weather patterns might impact them.
The Brigham Young research team collected data through equipment located 9.7 – 35.4 km from the launch site. But there are structures located much closer to the Starship launch pad, at a site SpaceX calls Starbase. The strongest effects from sonic booms will be local, according to SpaceX. The Starbase area primarily includes wildlife reserves and private land owned by SpaceX. There is also a neighborhood called Boca Chica village, less than 3.2 km from the launch pad. SpaceX bought most of the homes in the area several years ago, but private residents still own at least some of the properties.