U.S. Marine Band Turns Up Volume in NASA Goddard Acoustics Chamber

With a light flick of the conductor’s baton and a unified breath from each member, the band started playing the two deep and ominous notes easily recognized as the theme of “Jaws.” The sounds echoed off the walls of the acoustics chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Duunn dun… Duunn dun…

Something was different. The acoustics chamber isn’t like a concert hall, despite how its name might sound. Instead, the chamber replicates the harsh sound environment of a rocket launch by blasting sound waves at a spacecraft to make sure it can withstand the journey into orbit.

It’s an anxiety-inducing event for engineering teams. This spring, the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft was put to the test and passed, another step toward its launch in 2024 and its goal to study Earth’s oceans from space.

Duunn dun, duunn dun, duunn dun, duunn dun…

And just when you thought it was safe to go back in the acoustic chamber, the PACE team thought up a new trial. The mission team invited “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band to Goddard with a thrilling challenge: Could the musicians match the volume of the engineering test?

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun.