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I think your original impression was correct. The first big bang is most likely a sonic boom that occurred shortly after entering the atmosphere. There are seve
by Udo 14y ago
I think your original impression was correct. The first big bang is most likely a sonic boom that occurred shortly after entering the atmosphere. There are several smaller bangs and some crackling noise after that. Some of these I suspect are echoes, but party it would also be the sound of the thing passing through the air, and then possibly breaking up. I doubt the burst from the breakup was that loud (it looked more like a relatively gentle split), especially compared to the massive energy that the entry interface boom must have released.
Damn that thing was fast! Tore through the whole atmosphere in just a few seconds...
- InclinedPlane 14y agoMach 32, that's Earth's escape velocity, which is also how how fast objects tend to fall to Earth.
- Udo 14y agoThat's what I mainly meant by "fast", the angle of attack appeared to be relatively steep. I suppose you could be right about the idea that the breakup sound should have been heard before the entry sonic boom, but wouldn't you expect there to be two distinct bangs in that case? I still think the breakup was not that energetic, but it's hard to tell from the footage. It's all just guesswork, but still exciting :)
- InclinedPlane 14y agoTurns out it was actually going much faster than escape velocity, at around Mach 59.
- InclinedPlane 14y agoTurns out it was actually going much faster than escape velocity, at around Mach 59.