Edhat Staff
Public meetings held by the U.S. Air Force last week brought Central Coast residents together to voice their concerns over the sonic booms resulting from SpaceX’s rocket launches, a joint project with the Air Force aimed at deploying communication satellites into orbit.
SpaceX is a privately held, for-profit company helmed by Elon Musk that has several contracts and partnerships with the United States government that total over $3 billion.
As it stands, SpaceX launches about 50 times per year from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Although they plan to expand to a total of 100 launches.
A total of four meetings were held last week with online while the others were located in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Lompoc. Approximately 300 people in total showed up the meetings to express their concerns.
During the meetings, community members expressed similar anxieties, specifically over the shaking of their homes and possible affects to structural integrity. Issues were also raised regarding the amplified noise from launches, potential disturbance to wildlife, and potential effects on air and water quality.
Jennifer Green-Lanchoney, Vandenberg’s public affairs chief, explained that the number of scheduled launches annually may vary and is not fixed at 100. The loudness and location of the sonic booms vary due to factors like weather conditions and time of day, and Vandenberg has already started a study to understand these booms better to mitigate their impact.
Concerns extend beyond the civilian sector, as 15% of launches carry national security satellites, with the rest primarily for commercial purposes, including internet services via Starlink satellites.
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process will examine the full scope of environmental impacts, review all feasible alternatives, and contemplate necessary mitigations to lessen the adverse effects. The proposal intends to raise launch limits and clear the new Falcon Heavy rocket for takeoff from Vandenberg, which could result in two simultaneous sonic booms when its boosters land.
Following the close of public commentary, a draft EIS is anticipated in the upcoming spring or summer months, with additional hearings to follow before settling on a preferred course of action in the fall.
Those were were unable to attend the meetings can still submit comments through email, mail, or an electronic form on the project website by January 27.
Related Articles
U.S. Air Force Schedules Hearings on Increased SpaceX Launches and Sonic Booms
Now that Elomp is in charge, expect any concerns to be ignored.
I understand the environmental concerns, but personally, I love the rocket launches. I subscribe to the Launch Alert email list and try to watch every launch that I can from my house. The five year old inside of me gets excited every time I see one.
JIMBO212 – Same here, they are really cool! After seeing the latest explosion though, I’m more concerned with where this stuff will land and how cluttered it might be getting up there. Unfortunately, any consideration for the environment/pollution/climate change/public health will be moot for the next 4 years. I hope our planet can survive this!
“Any consideration for the environment/pollution/climate change/public health” needs to be upheld in this very moment for Dog’s sake! The open-for-comment door on the Environmental Impact Study will be closing soon. The hosts of the VAFB/EIS meetings held last week estimated around 50 people showed up to Ventura event, a little over 100 to Santa Barbara’s & Lompoc’s. That is not much representation for such an important study. There’s already a lot of info on why this matters in comments under this article (please take a moment to read them): https://www.edhat.com/news/u-s-air-force-schedules-hearings-on-increased-spacex-launches-and-sonic-booms/
As is shown here, all of Santa Barbara County is buckled in with Lompoc/VSFB on this one. Rockets launched from 25 Launch Sites (WORLDWIDE) in 2024:The most active launch sites were Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (69 launches), Vandenberg SFB (47 launches) and Kennedy Space Center (26 launches). Launches by Nation in 2024: In 2024, companies and agencies from 8 Nations attempted launches, including the United States (169 launches), China (68 launches) and Russia (17 launches). 56 different Launch Vehicles launched off in 2024: Top launched was the Falcon 9 (134 launches). https://rocketlaunch.org/rocket-launch-recap/2024
After the mess Musk made in the “Gulf of America” what is the concern about problems of aborted or failed launches on our environment and the fire risk in particular?
Although it doesn’t happen often, this is what “problems” looked like not so long ago on September 2nd, 2021 (https://santamariatimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/fireflys-rocket-explosion-stuns-spectators-public-urged-to-avoid-debris/article_03587d0a-86e6-5529-9257-fe0edc80c008.html):
Spectators who gathered across the Central Coast to watch the launch of Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket — a privately designed, unmanned rocket built to carry satellites — instead saw it explode midair and debris rain down on nearby areas. “I saw this thing floating down from the sky … then another piece, then another, and then hundreds of pieces varying in size were falling,” said Mike Hecker, a resident of Solvang who was out mountain biking in the Orcutt Hills with a large group of friends. “It was surreal to have rocket debris raining down on you,” he said. After a successful liftoff at 6:59 p.m. Sept. 2 from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, the ascending Alpha rocket exploded over the Pacific Ocean two minutes and 30 seconds after takeoff when Space Launch Delta 30 terminated its flight, according to Vandenberg Space Force Base range operations. The explosion, which could be seen for more than 100 miles in the clear evening sky, left a large cloud of smoke and visible debris falling back to Earth. “I quickly registered that it was debris from the rocket,” recalled Hecker, who had separated from his group to ride out of the hills only to find himself in the path of falling wreckage. “Some fell as close as 50 feet from me,” he said, noting that he quickly sought shelter under a nearby tree to avoid being hit — some pieces were as large as a Volkswagen bug. Shortly after the incident, Firefly Aerospace Inc., based in Austin, Texas, announced via Twitter that the vehicle had been lost due to an “anomaly” during first stage ascent.