Weird Noises in Space

 

There has been a real life Lost in Space scenario beginning in June and involving a pair of astronauts, Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita Williams. They were the test crew for an experimental eight day mission aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft; the first ever manned launch of this vehicle. The craft suffered a major breakdown once it reached orbit, but luckily it remained functional enough to reach the International Space Station so the astronauts survived. The problem though is that they now have no means of returning to earth until somebody sends up a rocket to fetch them. Elon Musk has promised to do so as soon as possible; much to Boeing's chagrin, no doubt. The two astronauts have been making the most of their emergency stop, putting themselves to good use, helping the resident crew. Both are experienced astronauts who have been into space before. However, something has now happened that could be the first serious obstacle of their exile. They were working in their stricken Starliner capsule when they heard a strange noise. Butch contacted mission control and said: "There's a strange noise coming through the speaker." He then had to find a way to let the controller hear it. The sound is a regular echoing pulse that rises and falls each time, described by the controller as "like a sonar ping." For some reason the ground controller asks him if he hears any other strange noises coming from other places. NASA claims the noise comes from inside the ISS and it is "common". If it's so common why did Butch and Sunita not know what it is? Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5vd3S7DNGY. There is no sound in space because sound is caused by a vibrating medium, like air. Space is a vacuum. Any sound that comes from space must come from inside the spacecraft, or the ISS to which it is currently docked. Alternatively it can be modulated from an electromagnetic signal coming from outside the craft, or in some situations this can happen by accident through interference or jamming. As a result astronauts do occasionally hear strange noises in space; and sometimes the source of those noises cannot be located. This very famously happened to the crew of Apollo 10 while they were in radio silence as they passed behind the dark side of the moon. (In my view they were probably in low earth orbit, see: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2020/12/moon-landing-portal.html.) It was described as "space music"; it was actually a "whistling" sound.) What's the cause of these mysterious sounds? Well, like many mysterious sounds on the earth, nobody knows. It could be some undetected malfunction with the craft's electrical systems. It could be the interaction between cosmic rays and the solar wind. There are as many theories as there are theorists. I don't rule out an attempt at contact by some kind of intelligence.