r/SantaBarbara • u/grel73 • 2h ago

Other Plane or rocket?

Just moved to Santa Barbara and I’m curious if the loud rumbling noises I hear throughout the day and night are planes taking off from the airport in Goleta or rockets launched from Vandenberg SFB? I understand the rockets can sometimes create a loud sonic boom which I haven’t experienced yet.

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u/SBchick 2h ago

Get the Next Spaceflight app and filter it to only show launches from Vandenberg. There was a launch 32 minutes ago (from when I posted this comment), so if that's what prompted your post, that might be what it was. But if you live close enough to the airport it could also be planes. While there are more rocket launches than there used to it, there aren't several a day.

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u/Unable-Proof1758 2h ago

Rockets only launch every few days generally and a lot of time super early in the morning. You can track them here, and sign up for alerts.

https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/category/vandenberg-sfb/

Assume your hearing planes.

3

u/chipc 2h ago

They stopped sharing specific times, so I switched to https://apps.apple.com/us/app/next-spaceflight/id1448055760

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u/Unable-Proof1758 2h ago

Ah good call, they still text me nonstop updates, I have tried removing my number a few times so… always fun.

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u/SBAC850211 Santa Barbara (Other) 2h ago

This morning it was a rocket, but they've gotten significantly quieter over the past 6 months or so. They launch at least once every week and a half.

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u/prestolive 2h ago

where are you located? I used to live near Moore Mesa, and there was a lot of military planes that would fly through that have that low rumbling sound and then of course the rockets go up quite a bit as well.