Mark Anderson

PhD in physics, focused on rocket acoustics and sonic booms.

Posting about rocket physics, math, and faith. Opinions are my own.

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

Why does the Falcon-9 booster make a triple sonic boom?

New research by myself and @KentLGee explains why this happens! Go check it out!

https://t.co/UYYVa6uoZb

Here are the three shocks:

1. Comes from the bottom of the booster near the engines. All supersonic objects make a front (or “bow”) shock. Because the rocket is falling engines first, the engine section is considered the front of the vehicle.

2. Comes from a combination of a rarefaction wave produced near the bottom of the booster (including, but not limited to, the folded landing legs) and a compression wave produced by the extended grid fins. These two waves merge and form a single shock in the middle of the sonic boom (actually, about 2/3 of the way through the boom in measurements).

3. Comes from just behind the top of the booster, where the air returns to ambient.

If you like science like this and want to support this type of research, go ahead and open the link and download the paper. That helps show that people are interested! Rockets are awesome!

Also thankful to @BYU and @BYU_PhysAstro, along with other sponsors and our friend @LaunchPhoto who let us use his photograph, for enabling this research!

Some community members that we think would be extra interested in this include:
@DJSnM @KSpaceAcademy @NASASpaceflight @Erdayastronaut @SciGuySpace @thejackbeyer @dwisecinema @MarcusHouse @TSHamiltonAstro

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

@RaminNasibov Pinball!

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

Pretty good news overall! Would love to see them fly by the end of the year, though these things usually tend to slip a bit beyond predictions. Good luck @blueorigin!

[Dave Limp @davill]

Some LC-36 updates. Now that we’ve had access to the pad and integration facility we can share a bit of good news. The propellant farm, oxygen, liquid hydrogen and LNG tanks are all in good shape. This is good luck because these are very long lead items. The water tower is also good. The big support tower is damaged, but it can be repaired in place rather than torn down and replaced. The booster “Never Tell Me The Odds” and the three GS-2s that were onsite in the integration facility also look good.

I’ve seen some speculation that we might move directly to the 9x4 configuration, but we won’t do that. Rate manufacturing of 7x2 is going well, and we’re going to continue that at pace as planned and store the stages for use. In addition, we had already been working for some time on eliminating our transporter-erector in favor of an alternative vertical conop, and we’ll now go directly to that; so we don’t need a new transporter-erector.

We will fly again before the end of this year. Gradatim Ferociter.

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

@davill Good luck! Cheering for you!

[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints @Ch_JesusChrist]

Phones, watches, doorbells, cars, factories and energy grids are increasingly becoming connected, all collecting and communicating information to be interpreted, analyzed and acted upon.

Noting this trend, Elder Gerrit W. Gong (@GerritWGong)  of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will discuss how to safely navigate artificial intelligence in a 60-minute gospel workshop video titled “Faith, Dignity and Human Flourishing: Hearing God’s Voice in an Age of Artificial Intelligence,” available on Sunday, June 7, 2026.

Learn more on Church Newsroom.

https://t.co/OgoKUYBQnM

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

@KentLGee @blueorigin @DJSnM @NASASpaceflight Oh man, that would've been wild!

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

It appears that the @blueorigin rocket explosion last night was recorded on an infrasound monitor located at the Disney Wilderness Preserve.

Explosion occurred at about 1 AM UTC, and the propagation time to this site would have been about 4-5 minutes (depending on atmosphere).

[Kent Gee @KentLGee]

The fluid mechanics here....just so cool. @AerospaceMark and I have a publication about modeling ascent sonic booms from Falcon 9's pending. This is crazy timing.

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

@John_Winkopp I would DM you, but it looks like I'm unable to. Might be because I'm not verified.

Terrific work!!

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

@John_Winkopp This is one of the coolest videos I have ever seen. @John_Winkopp I just finished my PhD in rocket sonic booms literally last month. Please DM me if you're interested in seeing what science we might be able to pull out of this video.

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

Holy smokes, that's AMAZING!!!

[John Winkopp SpaceCoastPictures @John_Winkopp]

@FelixSchlang @Spacepointorg @SpaceX Exit was just as impressive.

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

@blueorigin I see an initial shock wave followed by other related noise for the next two minutes.

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

This assumes of course that I successfully pulled the right data, as I'm not yet an expert on using these publicly-available systems.

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

@PhysInHistory I have no problem being a religious man who is also a scientist.

[Dallin H. Oaks @OaksDallinH]

The Savior has commanded each of us to love God and to love our neighbor. We are grateful for the faithful efforts of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who strive to fulfill this divine commandment. Their service is a witness of discipleship. 

My counselors in the First Presidency and I recently visited the Church’s new humanitarian center in Salt Lake City. This facility will serve an important role in preparing and distributing emergency supplies to meet global needs. 

I express appreciation for members of the Church and for all who minister in quiet and consistent ways. I testify of Jesus Christ, whose light and Spirit guide the children of God in caring for the poor and the distressed throughout the world.  

May we each accept and act upon this sacred responsibility to bless the lives of all of our Father’s children.

[Andrew McCarthy @AJamesMcCarthy]

My favorite photo from yesterday: A powerful sight as the latest iteration of Starship climbs through Texan skies. Captured via a sound-triggered camera, this camera captured the chaotic scene far better than I could from a safe distance.

Prints available in the reply.

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

Another incredible view of Starship shockwaves!

[Cameron Schwartz @nyoomtm]

Liftoff of Starship V3, from the dunes right outside the pad.

This is the most insane shockwave action I have ever seen on video. Absolutely mad.

📽️ Me for @WeAreSpaceScout

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

@dwisecinema really has a knack for getting incredible slo-mo snots. Love seeing those pressure waves!

[D Wise @dwisecinema]

The pressure waves from the launch of Starship Flight 12 today were absolutely incredible! Version 3 and Pad 2 are destined to continue bringing us incredible views...
@NASASpaceflight

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

@dwisecinema @NASASpaceflight @dwisecinema yet again, what incredible footage!! I hope we get to see an even longer cut!

[Mark Anderson @AerospaceMark]

Awesome video!

Because rockets make sounds like this, it’s incredibly important to understand how the sound is generated and how it propagates. By so doing, we can help make sure that launches can happen sustainably with minimal effects of surrounding areas.

[Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠🛸😎 @JoeTegtmeyer]

Want to know what it sounded like during the launch of Flight 12 of Starship today?

Check out this video and the shaking of the windows. This was during my livestream with @esherifftv (Ellie in Space) at a ouse about 5 miles from the launch site.

Definitely have the volume up! Truly a powerful rocket ... the most powerful ever!