Question: Can sonic booms occur in space?

Nathan Clarke answered on 27 Jun 2018:

Thanks for the question 🙂 sonic booms can’t happen in space because it is a vacuum. Sonic booms happen when things “break the sound barrier” like a jet. It’s really odd to see/hear in real life because few things go quicker than sound (which is about 343 metres per second). The first invention to break the sound barrier was actually not the jet – it was the whip – that’s what makes the cracking sound!