Supersonic jet noise from launch vehicles: 50 years since NASA SP-8072

In 1971, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) published a seminal report-NASA SP-8072-which compiled the results of the early supersonic jet noise studies and provided methods to calculate the noise produced from launch vehicles. Fifty years later and despite known limitations, SP-8072 remains the foundation for much of the launch vehicle noise modeling today. This article reviews what has been learned about the physics of noise generation and radiation from free and impinging rocket plumes since the completion of SP-8072. State-of-the-art methods for the mitigation of launch vehicle noise are also reviewed. A discussion of launch vehicle noise modeling, from empirical to numerical and including reduced-order models of supersonic jets, points to promising approaches that can describe rocket noise characteristics not captured by SP-8072.