OMB Application NASA WSPRRR Low Boom Community Response Test

Supersonic flight over land is currently restricted in the U.S. and many countries because sonic boom noise disturbs people on the ground and can potentially damage private property. NASA has developed a method for generating low level sonic boom noise similar to that anticipated for quiet supersonic flight. As sufficient research is assembled, there is potential for a change in federal and international policy. The Waveforms Sonic Boom Perception and Response Risk Reduction (WSPRRR) test will utilize a specialized maneuver developed by NASA using an existing F-18 research aircraft to correlate human annoyance response with low level sonic boom noise in a community setting. This effort is designed to evaluate remote aircraft basing and operations, community engagement, sonic boom measurements, and community annoyance surveys. The effort will improve research methods for future community-scale response testing using a purpose-built, low boom flight demonstration aircraft (LBFD). NASA supported two prior risk reduction field tests to evaluate data collection methods for low boom community response at Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB) in November 2011(see ref. 1&2). The findings from both studies are not readily generalizable to a larger population, as the residents at EAFB are accustomed to hearing full level sonic booms on a routine basis.

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