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NASA is Showering One City With Sonic Booms and Hoping No One Notices (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the work-in-progress dept.

Eric Mack, reporting for CNET: NASA has been deliberately creating sonic booms off the coast of Galveston, Texas, since Monday in the hope that residents on the barrier island community won't be too bothered by the sound of an F/A-18 aircraft briefly going supersonic. That's because the research jet is performing a dive maneuver designed to reduce the normally thunderous sonic boom to what NASA calls a "quiet thump," more like the sound of a car door slamming. The test flights are aimed at measuring the community response to the new, quieter booms and are part of NASA's larger effort to develop a new, more muted supersonic plane that might be able to fly over land. Current regulations prohibit flights over land that generate sonic booms.

5 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing new by Archfeld · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I live in SW Arizona and the air show that goes on here regularly includes F35's at low altitude, Raptors doing test runs and touchdowns for half the year, Marine air copters, A10's all training and providing a private air show at the Marine Air base, and the Yuma Proving grounds. Nothing beats a cold brew, and vaporizer and a great air show pool side in the evening. Last showing ends promptly at 22:00.
    Come enjoy the show - Karn Evil (ELP)

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    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    1. Re:Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That all sounds fucking cool except the Arizona part.

  2. I for one welcome the research by dcooper_db9 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    After 911 the Air Force sent jets into DC. Then the Feds implemented no-fly zones around the city. Every time a plane came into the Airpark from the wrong direction they sent jets to intercept. The sonic booms they produced weren't just loud, they caused drywall and roofing tiles to crack.

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    I do not block ads. I do block third party scripts.
  3. Re:Please no, Hell no... by MobyDisk · · Score: 4, Funny

    I recommend that you train animals to make the sound of car doors slamming, so that in your recordings you will never know if it was a natural sound or a man-made one.

  4. Sonic Booms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Galveston Resident here, and I'm part of the test as I'm reporting on the noise levels. The sound is still audible, but not anything like the booms normally sound.
    I've heard several already and I'd liken the sound to a demo blast going off many miles away. A low rumble, or thump (several actually), not quite thunder.