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NASA Captures Unprecedented Images of Supersonic Shockwaves

posted by chromas on Thursday March 14 2019, @07:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the pilots-were-shock[wave]-jocks? dept.

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

NASA captures unprecedented images of supersonic shockwaves

When an aircraft crosses that threshold—around 1,225 kilometers (760 miles) per hour at sea level—it produces waves from the pressure it puts on the air around it, which merge to cause the ear-splitting sound.

In an intricate maneuver by "rock star" pilots at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, two supersonic T-38 jets flew just 30 feet (nine meters) apart below another plane waiting to photograph them with an advanced, high-speed camera, the agency said.

The rendezvous—at an altitude of around 30,000 feet—yielded mesmerizing images of the shockwaves emanating from both planes.

With one jet flying just behind the other, "the shocks are going to be shaped differently", said Neal Smith of AerospaceComputing Inc, an engineering firm that works with NASA, in a post on the agency's website.

"This data is really going to help us advance our understanding of how these shocks interact."

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  • (Score: 2) by datapharmer on Thursday March 14 2019, @11:22AM (5 children)

    by datapharmer (2702) on Thursday March 14 2019, @11:22AM (#814134)

    Please do tell me more about this camera are we seeing vapour cones as described here: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-sonic-boom-visible [quora.com] (which this doesn't seem to match). What is this capturing exactly?

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  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday March 14 2019, @02:10PM (4 children)

    by Immerman (3985) on Thursday March 14 2019, @02:10PM (#814203)

    I'd be interested in knowing exactly what they're photographing as well, since pressure isn't visible directly.

    I suspect they're photographing the actual density variations in the air around the aircraft, that are associated with the pressure waves. Perhaps by analyzing the lensing effects of those density variations, or perhaps by flying through mist or pollution and actually capturing and enhancing the variation in opacity as the particulate density varies. Or maybe even looking at the variation in IR scattering associated with the CO2 in the air.

    I don't think it's vapor cones though. Those occur when you have a very sudden drop in pressure, and with it temperature, which can drive the percentage humidity above the saturation point and cause water vapor to condense.

    Since they're caused exclusively by pressure drops, and not increases, you wouldn't be able to see the leading edge of a shock-wave, no matter how sensitive your camera. And it certainly looks like we're seeing the leading edge of that cone extending from the nose.