CERN know-how helps weigh the proton

CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research logo.

2 Aug 2017

A team in Heidelberg, Germany has made the most precise measurement to date of the mass of a single proton, the particle that – together with the neutron and the electron – makes up all the ordinary matter in the universe, and therefore also us. They found that the proton is about 30 billionths of a percent lighter than previously thought. The result improves by a factor of three on the precision of the accepted value of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) – which regularly collects and publishes the recommended values of fundamental physical constants – and it also disagrees with its central value at a level of 3.3 standard deviations, which means that the new value is significantly different from the previous result.

Proton mass is a fundamental parameter in atomic and particle physics, influencing atomic spectra and allowing tests of ultra-precise calculations within Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), the theory that describes how light and matter interact. In particular, a detailed comparison between the masses of the proton and the antiproton offers a stringent test of the fundamental symmetry of the Standard Model, the so-called charge, parity and time (CPT) invariance. This proton lightness could also potentially shed light on other mysteries, such as the well-known discrepancies in the measured mass of the heaviest hydrogen isotope, tritium.

The team at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Heidelberg and their collaborators from RIKEN in Japan used a device known as Penning trap, in which a combination of strong electric and magnetic fields, cooled to 4 degrees Kelvin (- 269.15 °C) is able to store individual protons and highly charged carbon ions. In this trap, the magnetic field forces the particles to move in circle and by measuring the characteristic frequencies of the trapped particles when they spin around, the mass of the proton follows directly.

Image above: The MPKI Penning-trap setup for precision mass measurements of single particles. A combination of strong electric and magnetic fields is able to store individual protons and highly charged carbon ions. (Image: Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics).

The sensitive single-particle detectors were partly developed by the RIKEN group, drawing on experience gained with similar traps for antimatter research at CERN’s Antiproton Decelerator (AD). “The group around Sven Sturm and Klaus Blaum from MPIK Heidelberg that did the measurement has great expertise with carbon, whereas the BASE group contributed proton expertise based on 12 years dealing with protons and antiprotons,” explains RIKEN group leader and spokesperson of the AD’s BASE experiment, Stefan Ulmer. “We shared knowledge such as know-how on ultra-sensitive proton detectors and the ‘fast shuttling’ method developed by BASE to perform the proton/antiproton charge-to-mass ratio measurement.”

Although carefully conducted cross-check measurements confirmed a series of published values of the proton mass and showed that no unexpected systematic effects were imposed by the new method, such a striking departure from the accepted value will likely challenge other teams to revisit the proton mass. The discrepancy has already inspired the MPIK-RIKEN team to further improve the precision of their measurement, for instance by storing a third ion in the trap and measuring it simultaneously to eliminate uncertainties originating from magnetic field fluctuations, which are the main source of systematic errors when using the new technique.

“It is also planned to tune the magnetic field to even higher homogeneity, which will reduce additional sources of systematic error,” explains BASE member Andreas Mooser. “The methods that will be pioneered in the next step of this experiment will have immediate positive feedback to future BASE measurements, for example in improving the precision in the antiproton-to-proton charge-to-mass ratio.”

The research was published on 18 July 2017 in Physical Review Letters: http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.033001

Note:

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works. At CERN, the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists learn about the laws of Nature.

The instruments used at CERN are particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before they are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.

Founded in 1954, the CERN Laboratory sits astride the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and now has 22 Member States.

Related links:

Antiproton Decelerator (AD): http://home.cern/about/accelerators/antiproton-decelerator

BASE: http://home.cern/about/experiments/base

For more information about European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Visit: http://home.cern/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: CERN/Matthew Chalmers.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Five Years Ago and 154 Million Miles Away: Touchdown!

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) logo.


Aug. 2, 2017

Curiosity’s First Five Years of Science on Mars

Video above: Five years of Curiosity's Martian discoveries after landing day's seven minute of terror. Video Credit: NASA/JPL.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, which landed near Mount Sharp five years ago this week, is examining clues on that mountain about long-ago lakes on Mars.

On Aug. 5, 2012, the mission team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, exalted at radio confirmation and first images from Curiosity after the rover's touchdown using a new "sky crane" landing method. Transmissions at the speed of light took nearly 14 minutes to travel from Mars to Earth, which that day were about 154 million miles (248 million kilometers) apart.

Rover POV: Five Years of Curiosity Driving on Mars

Video above: A rover's-eye view of five years in Gale Crater on Mars. Video Credit: NASA/JPL.

Those first images included a view of Mount Sharp. The mission accomplished its main goal in less than a year, before reaching the mountain. It determined that an ancient lake environment on this part of Mars offered the conditions needed for life -- fresh water, other key chemical ingredients and an energy source.

A Guide to Gale Crater

Video above: An animated guide to Gale Crater's surprising history. Video Credits: NASA/JPL.

On Mount Sharp since 2014, Curiosity has examined environments where both water and wind have left their marks. Having studied more than 600 vertical feet of rock with signs of lakes and later groundwater, Curiosity's international science team concluded that habitable conditions lasted for at least millions of years.

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) or Curiosity rover. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

With higher destinations ahead, Curiosity will continue exploring how this habitable world changed through time. For more about the mission, visit: https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl

Image (mentioned), Videos (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Laurie Cantillo/Dwayne Brown/Tony Greicius/JPL/Guy Webster.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Astronauts Look at Ways to Prevent Space Headaches and Bone Loss

ISS - Expedition 52 Mission patch.

Aug. 2, 2017

The crew today researched ways to alleviate headaches and reverse bone loss in space to improve mission performance. Meanwhile, the station’s three newest residents also checked out station emergency gear and systems.

Common ailments that afflict people on Earth such as headaches also affect astronauts in space impacting their mission activities. Astronauts Paolo Nespoli and Randy Bresnik are jotting down their experiences this week to help doctors understand space headaches. Observations may reduce their effects and improve performance during spaceflight and on Earth.

Image above: Astronaut Paolo Nespoli checks out a science freezer inside Japan’s Kibo laboratory module. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA astronauts Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson are studying a new drug for its potential to slow or reverse bone loss in space. They looked at bones in mice today to help determine the efficacy of the new drug.  The lack of gravity causes osteoporosis-like symptoms weakening bones in space possibly impacting crews returning to Earth and experiencing gravity for the first time in months.

Cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy joined his crewmates Nespoli and Bresnik this afternoon familiarizing themselves with the station’s emergency equipment. The new trio explored their new home in space taking note of safety gear locations and escape paths.

Related links:

Space headaches: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/181.html

Bones in mice: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2283.html

Expedition 52: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition52

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits:  NASA/Mark Garcia.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Hubble Detects Exoplanet with Glowing Water Atmosphere

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.

Aug. 2, 2017

Image above: This artist's concept shows hot Jupiter WASP-121b, which presents the best evidence yet of a stratosphere on an exoplanet. Image Credits: Engine House VFX, At-Bristol Science Centre, University of Exeter.

Scientists have discovered the strongest evidence to date for a stratosphere on a planet outside our solar system, or exoplanet. A stratosphere is a layer of atmosphere in which temperature increases with higher altitudes.

"This result is exciting because it shows that a common trait of most of the atmospheres in our solar system -- a warm stratosphere -- also can be found in exoplanet atmospheres," said Mark Marley, study co-author based at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. "We can now compare processes in exoplanet atmospheres with the same processes that happen under different sets of conditions in our own solar system."

Reporting in the journal Nature, scientists used data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study WASP-121b, a type of exoplanet called a "hot Jupiter." Its mass is 1.2 times that of Jupiter, and its radius is about 1.9 times Jupiter's -- making it puffier. But while Jupiter revolves around our sun once every 12 years, WASP-121b has an orbital period of just 1.3 days. This exoplanet is so close to its star that if it got any closer, the star's gravity would start ripping it apart. It also means that the top of the planet's atmosphere is heated to a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 Celsius), hot enough to boil some metals. The WASP-121 system is estimated to be about 900 light years from Earth – a long way, but close by galactic standards.

Image above: The top of the planet's atmosphere is heated to a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 Celsius), hot enough to boil some metals. Image Credits: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STSci).

Previous research found possible signs of a stratosphere on the exoplanet WASP-33b as well as some other hot Jupiters. The new study presents the best evidence yet because of the signature of hot water molecules that researchers observed for the first time.

“Theoretical models have suggested stratospheres may define a distinct class of ultra-hot planets, with important implications for their atmospheric physics and chemistry,” said Tom Evans, lead author and research fellow at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. “Our observations support this picture.”

WASP-121b: The Planet With an Atmosphere of Glowing Water

Video above: This 360° animation depicts planet WASP-121b; an exoplanet with an atmosphere of glowing water. With an atmosphere hot enough to boil iron, WASP-121b is a type of exoplanet known as a 'hot Jupiter'. The planet orbits closely to it's host star, located in the constellation of 'Puppis', about 900 light years away from Earth. Video Credit: NASA.

To study the stratosphere of WASP-121b, scientists analyzed how different molecules in the atmosphere react to particular wavelengths of light, using Hubble's capabilities for spectroscopy.  Water vapor in the planet's atmosphere, for example, behaves in predictable ways in response to certain wavelengths of light, depending on the temperature of the water.

Starlight is able to penetrate deep into a planet's atmosphere, where it raises the temperature of the gas there. This gas then radiates its heat into space as infrared light. However, if there is cooler water vapor at the top of the atmosphere, the water molecules will prevent certain wavelengths of this light from escaping to space. But if the water molecules at the top of the atmosphere have a higher temperature, they will glow at the same wavelengths.

"The emission of light from water means the temperature is increasing with height," said Tiffany Kataria, study co-author based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. "We're excited to explore at what longitudes this behavior persists with upcoming Hubble observations." 

Hubble Space Telescope. Animation Credits: NASA/ESA

The phenomenon is similar to what happens with fireworks, which get their colors from chemicals emitting light. When metallic substances are heated and vaporized, their electrons move into higher energy states. Depending on the material, these electrons will emit light at specific wavelengths as they lose energy: sodium produces orange-yellow and strontium produces red in this process, for example. The water molecules in the atmosphere of WASP-121b similarly give off radiation as they lose energy, but in the form of infrared light, which the human eye is unable to detect.

In Earth's stratosphere, ozone gas traps ultraviolet radiation from the sun, which raises the temperature of this layer of atmosphere. Other solar system bodies have stratospheres, too; methane is responsible for heating in the stratospheres of Jupiter and Saturn's moon Titan, for example.

In solar system planets, the change in temperature within a stratosphere is typically around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 56 degrees Celsius). On WASP-121b, the temperature in the stratosphere rises by 1,000 degrees (560 degrees Celsius). Scientists do not yet know what chemicals are causing the temperature increase in WASP-121b's atmosphere. Vanadium oxide and titanium oxide are candidates, as they are commonly seen in brown dwarfs, "failed stars" that have some commonalities with exoplanets. Such compounds are expected to be present only on the hottest of hot Jupiters, as high temperatures are needed to keep them in a gaseous state.

"This super-hot exoplanet is going to be a benchmark for our atmospheric models, and it will be a great observational target moving into the Webb era," said Hannah Wakeford, study co-author who worked on this research while at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For images and more information about Hubble, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/
http://www.nasa.gov/hubble
http://www.spacetelescope.org/

For more information about exoplanets, visit: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/JPL/Elizabeth Landau/Space Telescope Science Institute/Ray Villard.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Cutting-edge Adaptive Optics Facility Sees First Light

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo.

2 August 2017

Spectacular improvement in the sharpness of MUSE images

The planetary nebula IC 4406 seen with MUSE and the AOF

The Unit Telescope 4 (Yepun) of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has now been transformed into a fully adaptive telescope. After more than a decade of planning, construction and testing, the new Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF) has seen first light with the instrument MUSE, capturing amazingly sharp views of planetary nebulae and galaxies. The coupling of the AOF and MUSE forms one of the most advanced and powerful technological systems ever built for ground-based astronomy.

NGC 6369 before and after the AOF

The Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF) is a long-term project on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to provide an adaptive optics system for the instruments on Unit Telescope 4 (UT4), the first of which is MUSE (the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer) [1]. Adaptive optics works to compensate for the blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere, enabling MUSE to obtain much sharper images and resulting in twice the contrast previously achievable. MUSE can now study even fainter objects in the Universe.

The planetary nebula NGC 6563 observed with the AOF

“Now, even when the weather conditions are not perfect, astronomers can still get superb image quality thanks to the AOF,” explains Harald Kuntschner, AOF Project Scientist at ESO.

The AOF + MUSE at work

Following a battery of tests on the new system, the team of astronomers and engineers were rewarded with a series of spectacular images. Astronomers were able to observe the planetary nebulae IC 4406, located in the constellation Lupus (The Wolf), and NGC 6369, located in the constellation Ophiuchus (The Serpent Bearer). The MUSE observations using the AOF showed dramatic improvements in the sharpness of the images, revealing never before seen shell structures in IC 4406 [2].

The AOF + MUSE at work

The AOF, which made these observations possible, is composed of many parts working together. They include the Four Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF) and the very thin deformable secondary mirror of UT4 [3] [4]. The 4LGSF shines four 22-watt laser beams into the sky to make sodium atoms in the upper atmosphere glow, producing spots of light on the sky that mimic stars. Sensors in the adaptive optics module GALACSI (Ground Atmospheric Layer Adaptive Corrector for Spectroscopic Imaging) use these artificial guide stars to determine the atmospheric conditions.

UT4 and the AOF at work

One thousand times per second, the AOF system calculates the correction that must be applied to change the shape of the telescope’s deformable secondary mirror to compensate for atmospheric disturbances. In particular, GALACSI corrects for the turbulence in the layer of atmosphere up to one kilometre above the telescope. Depending on the conditions, atmospheric turbulence can vary with altitude, but studies have shown that the majority of atmospheric disturbance occurs in this “ground layer” of the atmosphere.

The powerful lasers of the AOF

“The AOF system is essentially equivalent to raising the VLT about 900 metres higher in the air, above the most turbulent layer of atmosphere,” explains Robin Arsenault, AOF Project Manager. “In the past, if we wanted sharper images, we would have had to find a better site or use a space telescope — but now with the AOF, we can create much better conditions right where we are, for a fraction of the cost!”

NGC 6369

The corrections applied by the AOF rapidly and continuously improve the image quality by concentrating the light to form sharper images, allowing MUSE to resolve finer details and detect fainter stars than previously possible. GALACSI currently provides a correction over a wide field of view, but this is only the first step in bringing adaptive optics to MUSE. A second mode of GALACSI is in preparation and is expected to see first light early 2018. This narrow-field mode will correct for turbulence at any altitude, allowing observations of smaller fields of view to be made with even higher resolution.

ESO 338-4

“Sixteen years ago, when we proposed building the revolutionary MUSE instrument, our vision was to couple it with another very advanced system, the AOF,” says Roland Bacon, project lead for MUSE. “The discovery potential of MUSE, already large, is now enhanced still further. Our dream is becoming true.”

The planetary nebula NGC 6563 observed with MUSE and the AOF

One of the main science goals of the system is to observe faint objects in the distant Universe with the best possible image quality, which will require exposures of many hours. Joël Vernet, ESO MUSE and GALACSI Project Scientist, comments: “In particular, we are interested in observing the smallest, faintest galaxies at the largest distances. These are galaxies in the making — still in their infancy — and are key to understanding how galaxies form.”

NGC 6369 AO on/off crossfade

Furthermore, MUSE is not the only instrument that will benefit from the AOF. In the near future, another adaptive optics system called GRAAL will come online with the existing infrared instrument HAWK-I, sharpening its view of the Universe. That will be followed later by the powerful new instrument ERIS.

“ESO is driving the development of these adaptive optics systems, and the AOF is also a pathfinder for ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope,” adds Arsenault. “Working on the AOF has equipped us — scientists, engineers and industry alike — with invaluable experience and expertise that we will now use to overcome the challenges of building the ELT.”

Notes:

[1] MUSE is an integral-field spectrograph, a powerful instrument that produces a 3D data set of a target object, where each pixel of the image corresponds to a spectrum of the light from the object. This essentially means that the instrument creates thousands of images of the object at the same time, each at a different wavelength of light, capturing a wealth of information.

[2] IC 4406 has previously been observed with the VLT (eso9827a).

[3] At just over one metre in diameter, this is the largest adaptive optics mirror ever produced and demanded cutting-edge technology. It was mounted on UT4 in 2016 (ann16078) to replace the telescope’s original conventional secondary mirror.

[4] Other tools to optimise the operation of the AOF have been developed and are now operational. These include an extension of the Astronomical Site Monitor software that monitors the atmosphere to determine the altitude at which the turbulence is occurring, and the Laser Traffic Control System (LTCS) that prevents other telescopes looking into the laser beams or at the artificial stars themselves and potentially affecting their observations.

More information:

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

Links:

ESOcast 119: AOF First Light :  http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1724a/

eso9827a: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9827a/

ann16078: https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann16078/

Photos of the VLT: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/

ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT): https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/vlt/

Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE): https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/vlt/vlt-instr/muse/

Four Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF): http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1613/

Ground Atmospheric Layer Adaptive Corrector for Spectroscopic Imaging (GALACS): https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann16025/

Images, Video, Text, Credits: ESO/Richard Hook/Joël Vernet/Harald Kuntschner//J. Richard (CRAL)/P. Weilbacher (AIP)/Roland Bacon.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Vega lofts two satellites on second launch this year

ARIANESPACE - Flight VV10 Mission poster.


2 August 2017

This morning Arianespace launched a Vega rocket carrying two Earth observation satellites for Italy, France and Israel encased in Vega’s lighter protective fairing.

Vega liftoff

Liftoff of Vega’s 10th mission from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana came at 01:58 GMT on 2 August (03:58 CEST; 22:58 local time on 1 August) on a mission lasting 97 minutes to deliver Optsat-3000 and Venμs into their planned orbits.

Optsat-3000 will provide Italy’s Ministry of Defense with global high-resolution images. With a mass of 368 kg, it was the first to be released after about 42 minutes. The 264 kg Venμs was released 49 minutes later.

Perfect 10: the lightweight Vega orbits OPTSAT-3000 and Venµs on a milestone success

Venμs – Vegetation and Environment monitoring on a New Micro Satellite – sponsored by France and Israel will study vegetation and the environment, and demonstrate a new electrical propulsion system.

Optsat-3000 has a design life of seven years and Venμs four and a half years.

Optsat-3000 satellite

Flight VV10 marks the debut of Vega’s new lighter payload fairing that protects the satellites during the ascent to space. It was developed under ESA’s Launchers Exploitation Accompaniment Programme and manufactured by RUAG Space Switzerland with ELV in Italy as prime contractor. The technology was first proved on 28 June on Ariane 5.

The new Vega fairing structure features fewer panels and no metallic joints. Different composite material and improved manufacturing have lowered the production cost.

A launch pad modification for this flight reduced the acoustic loads – the pressure caused by sound waves on the payloads at liftoff – from the first-stage plume striking the structure.

Venμs – Vegetation and Environment monitoring on a New Micro Satellite

The changes exploited a computer model of the acoustic environment at liftoff developed under an ESA–NASA knowledge exchange agreement for launchers. Flight and ground measurements from this flight will help to gauge the improvements.

The payload mass for this launch was about 982 kg. The satellites totalled about 672 kg, with payload adapters and carrying structures making up the rest.

Related links:

Vega rocket: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Transportation/Launch_vehicles/Vega

Arianespace: http://www.arianespace.com/

ELV SpA: http://www.elv.it/en/

NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/

RUAG Space Switzerland: http://www.ruag.com/space/RUAG_Space_Switzerland

Images, Video, Text, Credits: ESA/ARIANESPACE.


Best regards, Orbiter.ch

New Supersonic Technology Designed to Reduce Sonic Booms

NASA logo.

Aug. 1, 2017

NASA’s F-18 test aircraft. Image Credit: NASA

Residents along Florida's Space Coast will soon hear a familiar sound -- sonic booms. But instead of announcing a spacecraft's return from space, they may herald a new era in faster air travel.

NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is partnering with the agency's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, Langley Research Center in Virginia, and Space Florida for a program called Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence, or SonicBAT II. Starting in mid-August, NASA F-18 jets will take off from the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) and fly at supersonic speeds while agency researchers on the ground measure the effects of low-altitude turbulence on sonic booms.

The project is another example of Kennedy's role as a premier, multi-user spaceport. In 2015, the center signed a 30-year property agreement with Space Florida for the operations and management of the SLF. This partnership provides an avenue for a variety of commercial and government partners to have access to use the three-mile long runway.

According to John Graves of NASA Flight Operations in Kennedy's Spaceport Integration and Services, for projects such as SonicBAT, NASA coordinates with Space Florida who manages the facility's schedule.

Image above: NASA’s F-18 will fly at or above 32,000 feet when it goes supersonic off the eastern coast of Florida. The F-18’s flightpath is positioned in efforts to keep the strongest-sounding sonic booms away from residential areas, while still producing sonic booms over the Kennedy Space Center, where the sonic boom sound will be collected by microphone arrays on the ground. While sonic booms will be more audible on the beaches north of Kennedy, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will hear “muted,” or quieter, sonic booms. Areas including Scottsmoor, Mims, Titusville, Port St. John, Cocoa, and Port Canaveral are likely to hear a sound closer to the rumble of distant thunder, though people may hear an occasional “muted” sonic boom. Image Credit: NASA.

"Working with representatives from the Armstrong center, we go through Space Florida to request use of the runway," he said. "It's an arrangement that works very well."

The F-18 will begin flights on Aug. 21, flying two to four times a day over a period of ten days. But the actual test window may be two weeks to allow for weather and other possible delays.

Graves explains that SonicBAT is an unusual test in that it uses a typical military aircraft with its loud sonic boom to help engineers better understand the sounds from future quiet supersonic aircraft

"We're hoping we can eventually lower sonic booms to a low rumble," he said. "The goal is to eventually accommodate jets that can fly from New York to Los Angeles in two hours."

Armstrong started SonicBAT investigations at Edwards Air Force Base last year. This will be the second round of tests.

"Edwards is a hot, dry environment," he said. "The team at the Armstrong center wants to now try to collect similar data in the hot, humid climate we have here."

The problem is sonic booms are bothersome, loud, thunder-like sounds occurring when an aircraft or other aerospace vehicle flies overhead faster than the speed of sound -- about 767 mph. U.S. Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager was the first to break the sound barrier on Oct. 14, 1947, at Muroc (now Edwards) Air Force Base in California.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, sonic booms became a familiar part of American life as military jets became faster and faster. At the time, it seemed that supersonic passenger air travel was on the near horizon. However, the boom created by shock waves, or rapid changes in pressure that occur at supersonic speeds, disturbed people and occasionally caused property damage when military aircraft flew at very low altitudes. Consequently, such flights currently are restricted by the Federal Aviation Administration, except for craft such as the now-retired space shuttle, SpaceX Falcon 9 first stages and the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.

Image above: One of three microphone arrays positioned strategically along the ground at Edwards Air Force Base, California, sits ready to collect sound signatures from sonic booms created by a NASA F-18 during the SonicBAT flight series. Similar arrays will be set up near NASA's Kennedy Space Center to collect the sound signatures of booms that have traveled through atmospheric turbulence before reaching the ground. Image Credits: NASA/Lauren Hughes.

"For the upcoming tests, F-18 jets will fly offshore from Daytona at about 41,000 feet," Graves said. "They will fly south, diving down below to around 32,000 feet and accelerating to supersonic speeds to create a sonic boom that will reach the ground where the test equipment is located."

There will be a small motorized glider which can fly with its engine off positioned above the 14,000-foot level to measure sonic booms above the turbulent layer, and microphone sensors set up north and south of Launch Complex 39B.

With this data and building on previous supersonic research, NASA hopes to develop cutting-edge tools and technologies for the design of future "low boom" aircraft reducing or almost eliminating the noise.

Image above: This illustration depicts NASA’s planned Low Boom Flight Demonstration aircraft. The agency and Lockheed Martin have just completed the preliminary design of the Quiet Supersonic Transport, or QueSST, aircraft studying the shape and position of aircraft components, along with the propulsion system to determine what factors contributes to an aircraft’s sonic boom. Image Credits: NASA/Lockheed Martin.

The ongoing research goes beyond SonicBAT. NASA and partners in U.S. industry and universities are testing a variety of factors that may make supersonic passenger travel a reality. The next exciting step will be the development of experimental aircraft that can demonstrate low boom flight. NASA and Lockheed Martin have just completed the preliminary design of the Quiet Supersonic Transport, or QueSST, aircraft studying the shape and position of aircraft components, along with the propulsion system to determine what factors contribute to an aircraft’s sonic boom.

In the next phase of this effort, NASA will partner with U.S. industry to build the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator, an experimental aircraft that, when flying at supersonic speeds, will create a soft “thump” instead of the disruptive sonic boom.

Related links:

Armstrong Flight Research Center: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/home/index.html

Langley Research Center: https://www.nasa.gov/langley

Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence (SonicBAT): https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/flights_study_atmospheric_effect_on_sonic_booms.html

Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST): https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-completes-milestone-toward-quieter-supersonic-x-plane

Supersonic Flight: https://www.nasa.gov/subject/7566/supersonic-flight

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA's Kennedy Space Center, by Bob Granath.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch