Do you get a thrill from hearing sonic booms? Brevard County will be the place to be for two weeks in August.

  • NASA begins sonic boom research Monday, Aug. 21
  • Testing done daily at Kennedy Space Center
  • NASA hoping to develop aircraft with quieter sonic booms

NASA will be researching sonic booms for a nearly two-week period from Kennedy Space Center starting Monday, Aug. 21.

NASA will fly an F-18 research plan two to three times per day, and communities and beaches around KSC may experience the sonic booms.

However, they've also carefully planned their flights so that people in larger cities like Titusville or Cocoa Beach won't be disturbed significantly. They may hear a distant sound similar to the rumble of thunder.

A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock wave produced when an aircraft exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1).

NASA will collect data on sonic booms in low turbulence, medium turbulence and significant turbulence. Turbulence can play a big part in how loud a sonic boom is.

The research is key to developing quiet supersonic aircraft, which produce a loud thump rather than the louder sonic boom.

Last year NASA did the same series of tests at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where the climate is hot and dry.

This year's tests are happening in Florida, where the climate is far more humid. NASA says that humidity can make sonic booms louder.

However, NASA says its pilots will be flying at high enough altitudes so that the booms are not dangerous to people, animals or buildings. 

Longtime residents of Brevard County are no strangers to sonic booms. The booms were very common when space shuttles returned from missions. Recently, sonic booms returned to Brevard County when SpaceX began doing land-based landings of their Falcon 9 first stage rocket.

The sonic booms are expected to last through the end of the month, and possible into early September. More information is available on the NASA website.


This map gives you a general idea of the flight path for the NASA tests and where sonic booms may be heard.(NASA)