From NASA Rover of perseverance, which landed on Mars less than a week ago, has pushed back the first audio recordings of the surface of the red planet.
NASA released the audio clips on Monday, along with the unreleased ones video images of the rover landing last Thursday, and the most sophisticated images taken so far of Mars.
Along with 25 built-in cameras, the rover also carries two microphones. One didn’t work during the rover’s descent, but the other caught the sounds of the Martian wind passing by, as well as the noise of the rover itself.
The audio fragment marks the first sound ever recorded on another planet.
“For those wondering how they land on Mars (or why it’s so hard) or how it would be to do so, you don’t need to look any further,” said NASA Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk.
In the first recording, the sounds of the rover itself are more prominent. In the second, NASA filtered the audio to make the sounds of Mars clearer.
“Imagine sitting on the surface of Mars and listening to the surroundings,” Dave Gruel, chief engineer of the rover’s camera and microphone subsystem, said during a briefing. “It’s great. Really tidy. Overwhelming, if you will.”
Gruel said he was especially excited about the audio recordings so that visually impaired people could feel the same excitement of coming to Mars as those who can see pictures and videos.
Mission team members said Monday that they expect to hear many more sounds from Mars, including wind, storms, falling rocks, and the sound of Perseverance’s wheels as it moves or its drill as it moves. excavates on the Martian surface.
Audio can also signal scientists Perseverance works and can identify problems with the rover. But due to the harsh conditions on Mars, scientists warn that microphones may not last the duration of the mission.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said the recordings are “the closest to landing on Mars without putting on a pressure suit.”
Scientists have tried to hear Mars before. The microphones have traveled to the red planet twice: the Mars Polar Lander failed and the microphone aboard the Phoenix Lander never turned on.
In 2018, NASA’s Insight Mars landed unexpectedly took similar sounds of Martian wind vibrations using the air pressure sensor and seismometer. But perseverance has captured the real on the surface of Mars, using commercial microphones specifically dedicated to capturing audio.
Perseverance will soon begin to work in search of signs of ancient life in Jezero Crater. And a decade from now, it plans to be the first send samples from the red planet back to Earth.