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Boeing\u2019s Starliner capsule carried astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the International Space Station<\/p>\n
NASA\/Johnson Space Center<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
UPDATE: In a statement sent to Jeff Foust at Space News, NASA said the sound has stopped, and gave an explanation. \u201cThe feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner,\u201d it said. \u201cThe space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback.\u201d The feedback has no technical impact on the crew or the craft\u2019s operations, it added.<\/em><\/p>\n The hapless mission to the International Space Station (ISS) involving the Boeing Starliner capsule has encountered another hitch. Over the weekend, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, the two astronauts who recently learned they will be remaining on the ISS until at least February, began hearing strange noises emanating from the Boeing craft.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a strange noise coming through the speaker,\u201d Wilmore told mission control in Houston, Texas, on 31 August, in a recording captured by an enthusiast. \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s making it.\u201d<\/p>\n Mission control told Wilmore they would investigate the regular, pulsing sound. In response to New Scientist<\/em>\u2019s request for comment, Boeing deferred to NASA and NASA didn\u2019t immediately respond.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Starliner capsule carried Wilmore and Williams to the ISS on 5 June, but the planned return journey with its passengers has been deemed too risky due to thruster failures and helium leaks.<\/p>\n The noise is baffling space industry experts, as well as mission control. \u201cThat\u2019s very odd,\u201d ,\u201d says Martin Barstow at the University of Leicester, UK. \u201cI have zero experience of being in a spacecraft, so I don\u2019t really have any idea.\u201d<\/p>\n Social media posts have speculated that it could be sonar interference, but it would be impossible for such interference to come from outside the capsule because sound waves can\u2019t propagate in space, says Jonathan Aitken at the University of Sheffield, UK. \u201cMy guess is it\u2019s nothing major,\u201d he says. \u201cThe bigger question for me is whether it\u2019s one speaker that\u2019s producing the noise or the entire comms system.\u201d<\/p>\n To investigate the source of the noise, Barstow would recommend a thorough audit of the craft. \u201cI would be wondering where all the microphones are that might provide an input and looking to isolate them,\u201d he says. \u201cHowever, it could be generated by the electronics of the audio system.\u201d<\/p>\n Barstow notes that the regular \u2013 but occasionally jumpy \u2013 nature of the pulse might lend credence to the idea that this is an electronics interference issue.<\/p>\n That hypothesis is supported by Phil Metzger at the University of Central Florida, who has previously worked on testing the intercom systems for the ISS as co-founder of NASA\u2019s Swamp Works research facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. \u201cElectromagnetic interference (EMI) is very common and hard to eliminate,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n Metzger, who didn\u2019t respond to New Scientist<\/em>\u2019s interview request, explained on social media that interference could come from outside the Starliner itself. \u201cDuring one test, we were hearing noise that we finally traced to the power inverters that were part of the test facility, not even in the spacecraft,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI would bet this sound in Starliner is EMI leaking into an audio cable that has a loose braid at the connector interface or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n What ought to be done about it is another question. Wilmore\u2019s radio conversation with mission control suggested neither he nor Williams was too concerned about the noise, though they were confused about its source.<\/p>\n Given that Starliner will be flying back to Earth alone on 6 September, there is no huge rush to find out what the problem is. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s important given no crew will be flying back in it, but unusual things should always be investigated,\u201d says Barstow. \u201cIt might shed light on a hidden issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Topics:<\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n