Artemis II re-entry: Did you feel it?

[Benjamin Fernando]

During Friday’s Artemis II re-entry, we will be deploying seismic and acoustic instrumentation at sea across the Southern California Bight to record the sonic boom produced by the capsule’s re-entry. Modelling indicates that the acoustic signal may be audible on land in some areas Santa Barbara County and Baja California, including the Channel Islands. 

Anyone in the area is encouraged to fill out a “Did you feel it?” Report on the USGS website following the re-entry to help us understand the dynamics of the shockwave's propagation (as an analogue for those from re-entering space debris and natural meteors): https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/tellus. Negative reports (i.e. nothing heard) are also encouraged. The form includes the ability to note down specific audible characteristics, e.g. single versus double booms versus rumbles. The expected window for this to occur is between 17:00 and 17:15 PDT on Friday, i.e. up to a few minutes after splashdown off San Diego at 17:07 PDT. 

Dr Benjamin Fernando (he/him) 

Reines Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow in Experimental Science 

EES-17 (National Security Earth Science)

Los Alamos National Laboratory