Thirteen sonic booms of space shuttles approaching Edwards Air Force Base, 1988–1993

Abstract

Thirteen sonic booms of space shuttles approaching Edwards Air Force Base, 1988–1993, were measured at a site 10 miles west of EAFB with Brüel & Kjaer 2230 Precision Integrating sound level meter ♯1082228; CEL-493/2 Precision Integrating Impulse sound level meter ♯198107; CEL-238A Secondary Processor ♯151020; GenRad 1982 Precision sound level meter ♯0169; Rion NL-11 Precision Integrating sound level meter ♯1140255; RACAL 4D7680-3 tape recorder ♯11224. On 30 Jan 1992 sound-pressure levels were peak flaT 133 dB; peak Awt 127 dB; max fast Cwt 113dB; max fast Awt 98 dB. Sound exposure levels flaT 126 dB; Cwt 108 dB; Awt 90 dB. On 16 May 1992 sound-pressure levels PKT 131 dB; MXFC 112 dB; MXFA 95 dB. Sound exposure levels CSEL 107 dB and ASEL 91 dB. Some 8 min before a space shuttle landing the latitude, longitude, altitude, and Mach number at 1-s intervals were supplied by AEROPAC. By Carlson theory, W. J. Galloway calculated for 30 Jan 1992 slant distance of 89 kft to sound-measurement site from origin of the sonic boom where Discovery was flying Mach 1.6, altitude 68 kft above mean sea level. On 16 May 1992 the slant distance was 88 kft from origin where Endeavor was flying Mach 1.6, altitude 72 kft.