SONIC BOOMS! Supersonic SonicBAT Research Will Rumble Space Coast In August

Supersonic research will rumble Space Coast in August

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - The Space Coast could experience more than 30 sonic booms in August as NASA conducts a two-week investigation into how turbulence affects the rumbling created as aircraft fly faster than the speed of sound, the space agency said Monday. Researchers from NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center and Langley Research Center in Virginia will conduct a series of tests as part of the Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence flights, or SonicBAT, at Kennedy Space Center starting Monday, Aug. 21. The project will help researchers understand how atmospheric turbulence can influence the sonic booms residents often hear after SpaceX lands its Falcon 9 boosters at Cape Canaveral or when the Space Shuttle would return to Earth. SonicBAT is in its second round of environment testing, last summer the NASA group tested supersonic flights in the desert near Edwards Air Force Base in California. Now the team is hoping to use Florida’s humid atmosphere to continue its investigation. "Turbulence can make sonic booms quieter, or it can make them louder,” Ed Haering, SonicBAT's principal investigator said. “Last summer we tested in the hot, dry climate of Edwards Air Force Base. We know that humidity can make sonic booms louder, so we need to test some place wetter, and Kennedy fits that bill.” Source