The catastrophic explosion of a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in May sent acoustic waves traversing more than 1,000 miles across the United States, according to new research. While the resulting shockwave was audible to thousands of residents up to 135 miles away, the event also generated detectable infrasound\u2014ultra-low-frequency vibrations imperceptible to human ears.<\/p>\n
Findings published on August 12 in the journal The Seismic Record indicate that at least 36 monitoring stations recorded the signals, with the most distant station located in northeast Texas, approximately 1,046 miles (1,684 kilometers) from the launch site.<\/p>\n
“Detecting such distant low-frequency sound waves not only highlights the scale of the blast but also provided researchers with a very rare opportunity to study [the] large real-world energetic event in more detail,” said Elizabeth Silber, a physicist and planetary scientist at Sandia National Laboratories and lead author of the study.<\/p>\n
By analyzing the frequency and propagation distance of the sound waves, the team calculated that the explosion released energy equivalent to 0.131 kilotons of TNT, or roughly 144 U.S. tons. This yields an energy output slightly exceeding that of the initial 1986 detonation at the Chornobyl nuclear reactor.<\/p>\n
The incident occurred on May 29 during a static “hotfire test” intended to prepare for the vehicle’s fourth mission. The booster exploded without warning, producing a massive mushroom cloud and scattering flaming debris. Blue Origin later attributed the failure to a faulty oxygen valve.<\/p>\n
Researchers also estimated that between 3% and 6% of the rocket’s cryogenic propellant burned during the initial blast. Despite the size of the resulting fireball, the team noted this consumption rate aligns with expectations for such accidents.<\/p>\n
“In a large propellant accident, the fuel and oxidizer do not necessarily mix and react all at once,” Silber explained. “Some material can contribute to the initial blast, while other material can burn more gradually in the fireball and the plume.”<\/p>\n
The explosion caused extensive damage to the launch infrastructure, with repairs estimated to take at least a year. The delay impacts Blue Origin\u2019s launch cadence and could affect NASA\u2019s timeline for a proposed lunar base, which relies on New Glenn for component delivery.<\/p>\n
No injuries were reported from the blast. The New Glenn rocket, standing 320 feet tall, has previously completed two successful missions, including a November 2025 launch of NASA spacecraft to Mars and the first-ever recovery of its reusable booster by a company other than SpaceX.<\/p>\n
The study underscores the potential of infrasound monitoring as a tool for tracking global aerospace incidents. Silber\u2019s team has previously utilized similar acoustic data to trace meteors and atmospheric reentries, including NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New study reveals infrasound from Blue Origin’s New Glenn explosion traveled over 1,000 miles, helping researchers estimate the blast’s power and fuel consumption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1238,1478,1239,1477,162,1253],"class_list":["post-620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blue-origin","tag-infrasound","tag-new-glenn","tag-rocket-explosion","tag-science","tag-space-exploration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}