Salud Carbajal proposes law to help mitigate rocket launch noise impacts

Shaking windows and a sonic boom awoke Orcutt and Lompoc residents around 7 a.m. on June 8, when SpaceX Starlink group 15-8 launched the Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Once a relatively rare occurrence, rockets are launching from the Vandenberg base with increasing frequency. With each launch comes a sound loud enough to disturb anyone in the nearby area. People 100 miles away in Ventura County can feel the sonic booms’ rumbles, according to Brigham Young University physics professor Kent Gee, who presented research findings to the Acoustical Society of America in May.

“We are in the process of understanding these microclimates and creating a three-dimensional map of sound to understand how launches impact different areas,” Gee said while presenting. “The data we have collected is already yielding surprises.”

The research collaboration between Brigham Young, the U.S. Space Force, CSU Bakersfield, the Federal Aviation Administration, SpaceX, and NASA studied rocket launches’ complex sonic boom patterns to understand launch acoustics.

As the number of rocket launches from Vandenberg continues to increase, some Central Coast residents aren’t happy with the sounds they emit. Many shared their frustrations with the United States Air Force through four town halls in January before a conservative nonprofit sued the California Coastal Commission for denying Vandenberg’s request to increase SpaceX launches.

Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) introduced the Space Launch Noise Mitigation Study Act on June 6. If passed, the bill would require the Department of the Air Force to conduct a feasibility study for creating a grant program, which would make recommendations on how to limit launch noise and provide residents with technological equipment to mitigate launch noise in their homes and businesses.

“With space launches occurring more frequently, nearby communities have voiced concern over the intensifying noise and its effect on their quality of life,” Carbajal said in press materials. “This legislation is a crucial step forward in equipping communities with the necessary resources to reduce the disruptive impact of sonic booms and protect their well-being.”

While presenting the study employing 25 high-tech monitoring stations across 500 square miles of the Central Coast, Gee said residents can hear sonic booms up to five times a month. The study found SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the same one launched on June 8, took flight from the Vanderberg base 46 times in 2024, almost once per week.

The sonic boom study has monitored 11 launches so far, with plans to track more throughout 2025, according to a press release from Vandenberg. 

U.S. Space Force Col. Mark Shoemaker, Space Launch Delta 30 and Vandenberg’s host installation commander, said in press materials that it’s a significant focus area for the base.

“We’re encountering new challenges, such as the phenomenon of sonic booms during ascent along the coast of California,” Shoemaker said. “This situation presents opportunities for research, and we’re currently working on modeling these effects to better understand and account for them in operational planning.” 

Shoemaker’s team is also working with launch companies like SpaceX to move as many take off times as possible from the middle of the night to less “impactful” hours of the day, between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

This article appears in Jun 12-22, 2025.