How powerful is the world’s most powerful rocket launch?

The launch of the SLS rocket during NASA’s Artemis I Moon mission made a noise louder than an ambulance siren at a distance of 5 km.

(Video: (lob Jacobs)

According to new research published in the journal JASA express lettersthe duo launches Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft during NASA’s Artemis I lunar mission, created a much louder sound than expected, Space reported on February 18. The team of experts studied noise levels recorded by 5 microphones installed approximately 1.5 to 5.2 km from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The noise level at each microphone exceeded the expected level.

Rocket engines produce crackling sounds due to shock waves generated by high sound pressure thresholds. According to Whitney Coyle, co-author of the new study, Artemis I’s noise level at 5 km is about 40 million times louder than a bowl of Rice Krispies cereal. At this distance, The noise level is 129 dB – louder than an ambulance siren or a chainsaw, enough to cause hearing damage.

Noise levels above 85 dB can cause permanent hearing loss with prolonged exposure, according to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Hearing Center. The Artemis I launch lasted only a few minutes and the next SLS launch is expected in at least a year.

One of the reasons the Artemis I launch was so loud was the extremely powerful thrust of the SLS, the most powerful rocket ever launched in the world. This 98 m high rocket has two solid boosters, combined in the central stage to create a thrust of approximately 4,000 tonnes at liftoff.

The sound of the Artemis I launch was about 5 km away.

NASA engineers predicted that the SLS launch would be very noisy. So they poured 1,700,000 liters of water onto the launch pad to reduce noise. However, SLS is still louder than NASA predicted in a previous preliminary assessment. The noise about 5 km from the launch site was almost 20 dB higher compare to expected.

“This research is an important step forward, but we still have a long way to go to understand everything about how rocket noise is generated, propagated and experienced.” commented physicist Kent Gee of Brigham Young University, lead author of the study.

Article source: VnExpress