NASA’s Perseverance, which landed on Mars less than a week ago, sent back the very first sound recordings from the surface of the red planet.
NASA saw the audio clips Monday with never before seen video image of the robber landing last Thursday, and the most sophisticated images yet taken of Mars.
Along with 25 cameras on board, the rover also carries two microphones. One could not work during the descent of the rover, but the other captured the sounds of the Mars wind blowing past, as well as the rumbling sound of the Rover itself.
The soundtrack is the first sound ever recorded on another planet.
“For those wondering how you land on Mars – or why it’s so difficult – or how cool it would be to do so – look no further,” said Steve Jurczyk, acting NASA administrator.
In the first recording, sounds from the Rover itself are more prominent. In the second, NASA filtered the sound to make Mars’ sounds clearer.
“Imagine sitting on the surface of Mars listening to the environment,” Dave Gruel, chief engineer for the Rover’s camera and microphone subsystem, told a news conference. “It’s cool. Really neat. Overwhelming, if you will.”
Gruel said he is particularly excited about the audio recordings so that people with visual impairments can still feel the same excitement about reaching Mars as those who can see images and videos.
Members of the mission team said Monday that they hope to hear many more sounds from Mars, including wind, storms, falling rocks and the sound of Perseverance’s wheels as it moves or the drill as it digs into the Martian surface.
Sound can also indicate to scientists how good it is Persistence functioning, and may identify problems with the rover. Due to the difficult conditions of Mars, scientists warn that the microphones will not last the duration of the mission.
Thomas Zurbuchen, co-administrator of NASA’s science mission directorate, said the surveys were “the closest you can get to landing on Mars without wearing a pressure suit.”
Scientists have tried to hear Mars before. Microphones traveled to the red planet twice – the Mars Polar Lander failed, and the microphone aboard the Phoenix Lander was never turned on.
In 2018, NASA’s Insight Mars lands unexpectedly picked up similar sounds of Mars wind vibrations using its air pressure sensor and seismometer. But perseverance has taken the real thing off Mars’ surface by using ‘commercial microphones’ specifically dedicated to picking up sound.
Perseverance will soon go to work looking for signs of ancient life in the Jezero crater. And in a decade from now, it plans to be the first one send samples from the red planet back to earth.