Starliner Plane Issues Strange Sounds Like Sonar

Starliner on the ISS (photo: Doc. NASA)

NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore contacted a NASA crew on the ground on August 31. The member of the Starliner Air Test mission said that Starliner made repeated noise.

Reporting from Arstechnica, Wilmore asked for help to stop the sound. The astronaut also asked ground crews to configure their calls so technicians could hear his voice and knew what needed to be done to stop him.

According to Wilmore's explanation, the sound that appears comes from the loudspeaker inside the Starliner. Shortly after, there was a ringer repeatedly with a slight vibration. Apparently, this sound came from the wing of the plane.

"I have a question about Starliner. There was a strange sound coming out of the loudspeaker, I don't know what caused it," Wilmore said when connected to the ground crew via radio.

Wilmore is inside Starliner to show the sound directly to the ground crew. The astronaut attaches his microphone to the Starliner loudspeaker so that the ground crew can listen to his voice and solve where the problem came from.

The ground crew in response said that, "His voice is like a pulsed sound, almost like sonar." Although the conversation between Wilmore and the ground crew has been shared by Meteorologist Rob Dale, it is still unknown what the cause is.

This strange and noisy noise needs to be considered because Starliner has some problems that keep him stuck on the ISS for up to two months. What's more, NASA and Boeing will repatriate the plane on September 7th.

If Starliner experiences problems again, both from helium, boosters, and other components, this aircraft could fail to return to Earth. Therefore, NASA and Boeing must pay attention to Starliner's problems, no matter what the problem is.