Starliner Sonar giving the crew fits

[rdale]

This morning's ISS chatter...

[Bob Shaw]

Someone’s knocking at the door!

[pathfinder_01]

What's this capsule have for it's 2nd act....will it start sounding like a dematerializing Tardis?

[deltaV]

Summary of the recording (MP3) attached to the original post: astronaut Butch on the ISS asked ground why Starliner's speakers are producing a pulsing noise similar to sonar pings.

[Comga]

This is not very surprising for a system without a history of full up HIL testing.
From the 16 pulse train recorded, it’s pretty close to 1.0 Hz and steady, “metronomic”.
Some clock pulse is getting into the audio.
It’s no big deal, except that it increases the likelihood that there are other cross-talk paths elsewhere that just don’t make themselves obvious.
Not the sort of thing that’s tolerable around thrusters and pyrotechnics.

Edit: But “giving the crew fits” is quite an exaggeration.  Wilmore remains professional and unperturbed, just curious.  He’s supposed to report system characteristics, and he did.

Maybe the flammable tape was shielding or separating  the wire bundles. 

But thanks Bob Shaw. 
Now I can’t get Paul McCartney out of my head
Someone’s knockin’ at the door
Someone’s ringin’ the bell!
……

[John_Marshall]

What's this capsule have for it's 2nd act....will it start sounding like a dematerializing Tardis?

As a Doctor Who fan, this would be hilarious if things with Starliner weren't so serious.

[whitelancer64]

This is not very surprising for a system without a history of full up HIL testing.

……

Starliner has done HIL testing, including full mission simulations.

[darkenfast]

What's this capsule have for it's 2nd act....will it start sounding like a dematerializing Tardis?

As a Doctor Who fan, this would be hilarious if things with Starliner weren't so serious.

Nothing a Sonic Screwdriver can't fix!

[John_Marshall]

What's this capsule have for it's 2nd act....will it start sounding like a dematerializing Tardis?

As a Doctor Who fan, this would be hilarious if things with Starliner weren't so serious.

Nothing a Sonic Screwdriver can't fix!

Definitely! I doubt there's any wood involved.

[litton4]

What's this capsule have for it's 2nd act....will it start sounding like a dematerializing Tardis?

As a Doctor Who fan, this would be hilarious if things with Starliner weren't so serious.

Nothing a Sonic Screwdriver can't fix!

Definitely! I doubt there's any wood involved.

2 comments:
1) are there any keys and piano strings up there? (clue: Look up the Tardis noise)

2) Next conversation:

Butch to Houston: The noise had changed a bit, now sounds a bit like a midget pounding on something with a hammer!
<pause>
Houston: We've discussed it with the folks here on the ground and we're sending you a procedure to take the hammer away from the little guy....


(Misquoted from here and lots of other sources)

[zack]

Ah, so it is also haunted.

https://twitter.com/SpaceBasedFox/status/1830180273130242223

[laszlo]

Oh boy! He's in for it now. Should have said "person of short stature" instead of the m-word.

[Star One]

https://x.com/SpaceBasedFox/status/1830180273130242223?

It sounds like an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

[Targeteer]

Ah, so it is also haunted.

https://twitter.com/SpaceBasedFox/status/1830180273130242223

I heard that live.  The mission director, no CAPCOM on Saturday, then asked Butch if he thought the issue was serious because Starliner controllers weren't planning to come in till Tuesday.  No further updates because the ISS Youtube feed has failed yet again.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Eric Berger has picked up on this (and links to the op on this thread):

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/09/starliners-speaker-began-emitting-strange-sonar-noises-on-saturday/

The Starliner spacecraft has started to emit strange noises
"I don't know what's making it."

by Eric Berger - Sep 1, 2024 2:13pm GMT

On Saturday NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore noticed some strange noises emanating from a speaker inside the Starliner spacecraft.

[seb21051]

Eric Berger has picked up on this (and links to the op on this thread):

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/09/starliners-speaker-began-emitting-strange-sonar-noises-on-saturday/

The Starliner spacecraft has started to emit strange noises
"I don't know what's making it."

by Eric Berger - Sep 1, 2024 2:13pm GMT

On Saturday NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore noticed some strange noises emanating from a speaker inside the Starliner spacecraft.

Reminds me of Tiny the 50 lb Savanah cat smuggled on board the Vorpal Blade by Miss Miriam Moon in "Claws That Catch" by John Ringo.

[SoftwareDude]

It sounded like Darth Vader to me. How can it get any more embarrassing for Boeing?

[Spiceman]

It sounded like Darth Vader to me. How can it get any more embarrassing for Boeing?

LMAO

 

Starliner "I find your lack of faith IN ME, disturbing." (proceeds to telekinesically choke ISS crew to near death)

[Targeteer]

https://twitter.com/peterrhague/status/1830276297391513925

NASA ground controllers are figuring out what this noise from Starliner really is. (when they bother to come into work on Tuesday )

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/cmdr_hadfield/status/1830380090569494973

There are several noises I'd prefer not to hear inside my spaceship, including this one that @Boeing Starliner is now making.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/robert_zubrin/status/1830362955231400067

It’s obviously Humpback Whales.

[IRobot]

From the 16 pulse train recorded, it’s pretty close to 1.0 Hz and steady, “metronomic”.
Some clock pulse is getting into the audio.
It’s no big deal, except that it increases the likelihood that there are other cross-talk paths elsewhere that just don’t make themselves obvious.
Not the sort of thing that’s tolerable around thrusters and pyrotechnics.

Should not be hard for Boeing to understand what is generating a 1Hz pulse, and then understand the severity.

My concern with it is that it is not really a "ping", i.e. a very short impulse. It sounds like it has some "reverb" to it, meaning some sort of repetitive fading feedback to it. The Starliner is not that big and empty that would create such reverb, I would imagine. So it´s more than a clock pulse getting into the audio, unless that clock is already in a very poor state...

[Ben the Space Brit]

IMO, every off-nominal quirk the ship has will be another millstone that Boeing will somehow need to move before CFT2 is even considered.

I have to say that, at first, I honestly thought that this was going to turn out to be a 'gotcha' being played on the controllers by the crew of CFT1 for being stuck up there for so long but that isn't really how NASA astronauts act, is it? It's the equivalent of crying 'wolf' in a wolf-infested forest.

[eric z]

 It reminds me of the special effects on "Lost in Space"or "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea". Maybe some Irwin Allen
"legacy" equipment.

[waveney]

Everyone is freaking out over this, but there are many logical explanations. Although Starliner is *most* likely haunted, it could also be aliens, space whales, sophon interference, forever lost cosmonauts banging on the hatch begging to be let in, or simply the Babadook.

https://x.com/Alex_Hoganson/status/1830246515652354547

[laszlo]

...I have to say that, at first, I honestly thought that this was going to turn out to be a 'gotcha' being played on the controllers by the crew of CFT1 for being stuck up there for so long but that isn't really how NASA astronauts act, is it? It's the equivalent of crying 'wolf' in a wolf-infested forest.

Google Apollo 13 Fred Haise repress valve and you might change your mind.

[Chris Bergin]

NASA response:

“A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft heard by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped. The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner. The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback. The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system. The speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, Sept. 6.”

Also hilarious how this went viral. Rob is now famous, cited everywhere through to Fox News and Chinese TV

[rdale]

At least NSF got a boatload of publicity out of a fun clip!

Interesting that the CO2 issue didn't get nearly as much - and that's a legit health concern.

[abaddon]

Finally something weird/wrong about Starliner that turned out NOT to be a huge issue.

[matthewkantar]

Captain Ramius: Ensign! I said one ping only!

[TJL]

Now I can’t get Paul McCartney out of my head

……
[/quote]

That's not a bad thing.
(McCartney / Beatle fan)

[as400]

HAL's heartbeat was increasing.

[IRobot]

At least NSF got a boatload of publicity out of a fun clip!

Interesting that the CO2 issue didn't get nearly as much - and that's a legit health concern.

Thing is, nobody trusts that thing. So any tiny unexplainable event just scares people.

I remember crewing on a sailboat 15 years ago. During a two day passage, the head sail ripped, electronics stopped working, engine cooling system failed. Then we heard some pump noise from the inside, we thought it was the automatic water pump, and that we were sinking, and we panicked. Turned out to be the portable vacuum cleaner that turned itself on during a tack. But we didn't trust that crappy boat, so we assumed the worst.

[rdale]

Oh I get that. But this never appeared to be a serious issue.

Having too much CO2 to the point where exercise had to be stopped?

That can be SERIOUS.

[Star One]

I wonder how many of those real life mystery videos will appear on You Tube in relation to this.

[LouScheffer]

Everyone is freaking out over this, but there are many logical explanations. Although Starliner is *most* likely haunted, it could also be aliens, space whales, sophon interference, forever lost cosmonauts banging on the hatch begging to be let in, or simply the Babadook.

Yeah, but NASA will never admit it.  They will blame it on some hypothetical "audio system mis-configuration".

[CrazySpace]

NASA response:

“A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft heard by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped. The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner. The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback. The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system. The speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, Sept. 6.”

Ok but, this explain nothing!!

[mn]

NASA response:

“A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft heard by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped. The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner. The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback. The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system. The speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, Sept. 6.”

Also hilarious how this went viral. Rob is now famous, cited everywhere through to Fox News and Chinese TV

So this sound started when something was reconfigured?

[joek]

Ok but, this explain nothing!!

Certainly seems to. Apparently an interaction between the ISS and Starliner configurations. As explained by NASA, this also appears to happen occassionaly with other vehicles. Don't think there is anything more to see here; move along.

[rdale]

NBC News (I was worried because the tease before commercials referred to NASA being in a panic or something like that...)

[Explorer]

It's actually very simple.

Boeing used electronics from a scrapped car to save money. When they reinstalled the autopilot on Starliner the seatbelt reminder accidentally came back as well and is now beeping. 

[rst]

NBC News (I was worried because the tease before commercials referred to NASA being in a panic or something like that...)

A broadcast which only raises another question... why is the person reporting this story on a windswept beach?

[kdhilliard]

NBC News (I was worried because the tease before commercials referred to NASA being in a panic or something like that...)
...

The forum software breaks timestamped links when videos are embedded.
To suppress embedding, try this format (longform URL, but without the leading "www."):
  https://youtube.com/watch?v=Jp_oOnK3T5A&t=44m18s
44:18 --  Hi Rob!!!

[pathfinder_01]

Ugh, I was hoping someone would have to jam it like in Spaceballs.

[rdale]

Canadian national news threw in an Apollo 13 clip

https://globalnews.ca/video/10731843/nasa-eases-concerns-after-strange-noise-reported-on-boeing-starliner/

[logicaltuvok]

First post but was interested by this. The signal frequency is centered around 440-460Hz. 440Hz (A4) is a standard NIST tone used for transmission tests like WWV.


So I am inclined to believe they left some 1Hz beat 440ish Hz test signal pinging by mistake.

Obviously frequency content of the signal is trash since it's gone through a few resamples, but here's a quick plot attached of the signal posted to X from Starliner.

[rdale]

NBC News (I was worried because the tease before commercials referred to NASA being in a panic or something like that...)

A broadcast which only raises another question... why is the person reporting this story on a windswept beach?

Fox35 had their reporter doing this LIVE story while STANDING IN THE RAIN in Brevard County labeled "Fox35 Mission Control"

#Sigh

[VSECOTSPE]

Calypso could have a second life as a radio telescope for pulsars.  That’s SGR 0418.  See 1:28 mark below:

[gongora]

Loren Grush talking about this on the Off Nominal podcast was kinda amusing


Note: I've been told this link will actually go to the right place in the video at 32:02:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=JQqjghKuUMc&t=1922s

[Twark_Main]

Loren Grush talking about this on the Off Nominal podcast was kinda amusing
...

Note: I've been told this link will actually go to the right place in the video at 32:02:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=JQqjghKuUMc&t=1922s

This embedded video should go right to 32:02: