Edhat Staff
Residents of Santa Barbara County were treated to an unexpected rumble in the evening sky Friday, as a sonic boom reverberated throughout the region. The source of this startling sound was identified as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at precisely 10:14 p.m. on November 8.
The mission involved the successful launch of 20 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. Notably, 13 of these satellites are equipped with Direct to Cell capabilities, enhancing connectivity options. This launch took place from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E), a site with a growing history of supporting various space missions.
Friday’s launch marked the 11th journey for the Falcon 9’s first stage booster, an impressive feat showcasing the reusability aspect of SpaceX’s launch vehicles. This particular booster has a storied history, having previously facilitated a wide range of missions including NASA Crew-7, CRS-29, NROL-186, EarthCARE, Transporter-10, PACE, and now five Starlink missions.
The Falcon 9’s passage through the atmosphere at an incredible speed resulted in the sonic boom that caught many residents by surprise. This phenomenon occurs when an object in flight surpasses the speed of sound, creating a thunderous noise that can be heard over vast areas.
Edhat received reports of “what was that noise?” and “gunshot or firework” late Friday night as most people from Santa Maria to Carpinteria experienced the noise.
SpaceX’s Starlink project aims to provide high-speed internet access across the globe, particularly in underserved or remote areas. The addition of satellites with Direct to Cell capabilities promises to further extend the reach of connectivity, making cellular service available in places previously lacking coverage.
The successful launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base continues to highlight the central role of California’s Central Coast in the nation’s space endeavors. As SpaceX forges ahead with its ambitious Starlink project, Santa Barbara County residents may well find themselves listening out for more sonic booms in the night sky, heralding further advances in space technology and connectivity.
Video of the launch can be seen below:
Lighting the night sky with Falcon 9 liftoff pic.twitter.com/2vBXQi3RKG
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 9, 2024
It is back to Orwells 1984, what the serious f*&# is the start of this article?
“Residents of Santa Barbara County were treated to an unexpected rumble…”
Treated? Are you kidding me! I suppose in the brave new world we live in we are all expected to worship every step by Elon Musk ad treat it as a gift.
This is wrong!
Not to mention all the other laudatory language for Starlink, Musk, and SpaceX. We get it, enough is enough. All for his enrichment and increase in control.
Looks like sarcasm is lost on some.
The boom was so intense on Lower Riviera we thought a huge tree branch had fallen on our house. Musk now will be able to do whatever he wants, “treating” us all to 100s of launches per year, negative effects on marine and other wildlife be damned.
There is no place for considering marine or other wildlife in the playbook for the new ruling class. It is all about making the billionaires trillionaires. Damn the peasantry and any life form in their way.
why aren’t there big sonic booms with the other launches from Space X?
My STEM friends and I have been wondering the same thing. None of us are specialists in this area. Here’s the video of the launch with time, speed, and altitude info at the bottom of the screen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wC4kCGYyLE
You can see in the video the 1st stage begins descending back to earth at T+ 4:33 mins at supersonic speed. It’s supersonic for most of the way down until it fires its rockets to slow below the speed of sound. While it’s supersonic, the 1st stage is continually generating pressure waves behind it. The waves are shaped like a cone as you can see here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_boom
When that cone arrives where you are, you’ll hear one or more booms as the pressure waves pass you.
My best guess .. the trajectory of the 1st stage on it’s descent was straight at us to better direct the cone towards us. That might also require the landing barge to be closer to SB than usual. From the Riviera, I thought I saw the rockets firing over the ocean (but I could be wrong, home port for the landing barge is in Long Beach).
Another thought was whether there was an inversion layer in the atmosphere that helped steer the pressure wave cone (like when you can hear concerts from the County Bowl or seals barking offshore from far away as the sound bounces off an inversion layer above us).
Anyways, that bang was over the top loud! The Coastal Commission will make hay with this since SpaceX wants to begin doing two launches per week in 2025.
Air temperature, and thus its density, plus wind direction can also result in better sound transmission and focusing.
My current thinking is temperature itself wasn’t a large factor, but *differentials* in temperature, and wind, can create gradients that will steer the pressure wave towards us. Along these lines:
https://www.softdb.com/blog/effect-of-wind-and-temperature-gradients-on-sound-waves/
But I don’t want to let SpaceX off the hook quite so easily. Two more variables are flight path of the 1st stage on its descent, and location of the landing barge. A sonic boom’s cone-shaped pressure wave isn’t like circular waves when a pebble is dropped into a pond. It’s more like the wake created by a boat in the pond. You’d see the biggest waves if the boat went straight at you, and smaller waves off to the sides. If the boat stops (1st stage lands) you’ll see smaller waves the farther out in front of the stopping point you are.
So, given the 1st stage was downrange south of SB when it started descending, *IF* the drone ship was located north of that position *AND* was close to SB, the 1st stage trajectory could have been pointing the pressure wave in our direction. Any winds or gradients could have also had a steering effect.
Anyways, I couldn’t find GPS tracking data for the landing barge the night of the landing. But the next launch is Wednesday night so I’ll check the GPS coordinates for the barge ship. FYI, the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” shows up on marine tracking sites as “MARMAC 304” – that’s the name of the barge that it’s built on top of:
https://space-offshore.com/of-course-i-still-love-you
Thanks for this info, EastBeach!
Weather conditions.
This late night boom registered as a 1.4 earthquake by USGS. Totally unacceptable, in my opinion.
I was down in Ventura County that evening and it woke me up! Plus everyone’s Ring neighborhood alerts went crazy. This is not acceptable.
You say “treated” to a sonic boom?
I think that was a wrong choice of words.
The atmospheric conditions where definitely the reason for our ability on the ground to hear it so loudly.
No wind, clouds and colder air make it louder.
The sonic boom we hear is from the booster falling back to earth.
COAST says “Look what happened off the coast of New Jersey- The beaching of whale, marine mammals getting confused on their migratory routes due to high frequency sounds…”
Yeah that didn’t happen. It is widely accepted by the scientific community that the beaching was not caused by wind turbines. I’ve cited the findings here plenty.
Another reason why Trump is a problem. Thanks to his handling of everything, his followers don’t accept proven science. Ugh it’s gonna be a long, stupid 4 years.
No kidding. CW keeps shoveling out that steaming pile of disinformation from his con bubble every chance he gets, despite all evidence to the contrary. What a patsy!
This won’t be over in four years.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/decapitation-strike
I find the whole idea of launching rockets into space quite amazing. Even though the sonic boom seemed louder than usual (I thought a plane had crashed in the lower half of my property), the benefits of the SpaceX programs outweigh any “negative” side effects. That’s simply my opinion and outlook on this. Of course, I realize others may have a completely different opinion.
Just wait for the inevitable Kessler Syndrome event.
LOTS more launches to come.
“Now, Trump is looking to return the favor. Speaking with reporters last month, he said he would appoint Musk as “secretary of cost-cutting”. Musk, for his part, has joked he would be interested in serving as head of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge) with a stated goal of reducing government spending by $2tn. Practically speaking, experts say those cost cuts could result in deregulation and policy changes that would directly impact Musk’s universe of companies, particularly Tesla, SpaceX, X and Neuralink.
Trump administration officials, eager to maintain Musk’s support, may similarly loosen rules and reassign federal government officials to benefit Musk’s interests. It’s an explicit, openly transactional relationship unlike any seen in recent US political memory, experts said.
“We’ve seen lobbying efforts, we’ve seen Super Pacs, but this is a different level we’ve never seen before,” said Gita Johar, a professor at Columbia Business School. “There will be some quid pro quo where he [Musk] will benefit.”
Pausing for a moment, Johar added: “‘Conflict of interest’ seems rather quaint.”
Few of Musk’s endeavors have benefited as directly from government partnerships in recent years as SpaceX. The private space company secured a $3bn federal contract in 2021. It is currently competing with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin for a series of contracts with the US Space Force worth some $5.6bn. Musk has already asked Trump to appoint SpaceX employees to top government positions, according to the New York Times.
Experts agreed Musk’s relationship with Trump would strengthen its position as a top contender for space contracts. Mittelsteadt says recent Republican opposition to the Biden administration’s beleaguered rural $42.45bn broadband initiative could also open up a new path for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service. A GOP-led Federal Communications Commission, Mittelsteadt argued, could decide to pay SpaceX to expand Starlink access nationwide. Trump lauded Starlink’s role in providing internet access to hurricane survivors during a speech on election night.
“The ceiling for what he could possibly get out of government contracts could be raising,” Mittelsteadt said.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/10/donald-trump-enrich-elon-musk
Regardless of who is in office, emotions should not stand in the way of progress. Hating the individuals responsible for progress simply isn’t enough to stop things from going forward. My belief is that space technology and exploration is progress, especially if the “price” is to suffer 1 second of a sonic boom.
Any progress that has come about has not been due to Musk. If anything, he often intercedes with poor technical decisions. It’s his employees that are responsible for success, if you can call polluting low earth orbit with tens of thousands of poorly-regulated internet satellites progress. Cheaper access to space is fine, but it’s being abused.
What hate?!
I do indeed think it’s a bad idea to have the main owner of a company, who is also the richest man, involved in a position in government that affects his own companies! Don’t you?
Maybe it won’t happen. Maybe… But at this time, it’s on track.
No hate or emotions in that Guardian article. Tech and progress are not the cited issues. Corruption and autocracy are.
What about hating America?
https://snyder.substack.com/p/decapitation-strike
Protest by throwing out your electronics!
Complete non sequitur, as usual.
Educator and physicist discusses new information re: Kessler Syndrome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi9EW9xhqAU&t=2s