Space Shuttle launches with deep infrasound rumbles

The International Monitoring System infrasound station in Bermuda recorded the sound of Space Shuttle Atlantis launching from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 16 November, 2009. The infrasound has been sped up by 250 times into the range humans can hear. Because the rocket traveled faster than sound it produced, the station registered the descent and splashdown of the boosters in ocean between Bermuda and the Florida coast before the roar of the takeoff. The top panel shows how the direction of the sound shifts as the rocket passed Bermuda, which gives clues to the different launch phases. Credit: Patrick Hupe and Christoph Pilger, German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources Modified from figures published in the research article “1001 Rocket Launches for Space Missions and Their Infrasonic Signature“ in AGU’s journal Geophysical Research Letters. Learn more: