First audio recorded on Mars reveals two speeds of sound

They were written by Daniel and Juliette.

Scientists said Friday that the first audio recordings on Mars reveal a quiet planet with occasional gusts of wind where two different speeds of sound would have a strange delayed effect on hearing.

After NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars in February last year, its two microphones started recording, allowing scientists to hear what it is like on the Red Planet for the first time.

In a study published in the Nature journal on Friday, the scientists gave their first analysis of the five hours of sound picked up by Perseverance's microphones.

The audio revealed previously unknown turbulence on Mars, said Sylvestre Maurice, the study's main author and scientific co-director of the SuperCam mounted on the rover's mast which has the main microphone.

The international team listened to flights by the tiny Ingenuity helicopter, a sister craft to Perseverance, and heard the rover's laser zap rocks to study their chemical composition.

He said that they had a sound source between two and five meters from its target, and that they knew when it was going to fire.

The study confirmed for the first time that the speed of sound on Mars is slower than on Earth.

The study said that the atmosphere on Mars is 95 percent carbon dioxide and is 100 times thinner than Earth.

I panicked.

The scientists were surprised when the sound made by the laser took 250 meters a second.

Maurice panicked because he thought one of the two measurements was incorrect.

There are two speeds of sound on the surface of Mars, one for high-pitched sounds like a laser and the other for lower frequencies.

Humans would hear high-pitched sounds a bit earlier.

On Earth, the sounds from an orchestra reach you at the same speed. If you are far from the stage, there will be a big delay.

All of these factors would make it difficult for two people to have a conversation only five meters apart.

Scientific gamble pays off.

It was so quiet on Mars that the scientists were afraid of something happening, possibly provoking memories of two failed attempts to record sound there.

The scientists said in a statement that there are few natural sound sources with the exception of the wind.

The study said that the microphones picked up a lot of noises as the metal wheels interacted with rocks.

The recording could warn about problems with the rover, like how drivers sense something is wrong when their car starts making strange noises.

Maurice said that taking microphones to Mars was a success.

Listening to turbulence will allow us to refine our numerical models for predicting climate and weather.

Future missions to Venus or Titan could come with microphones.

Perseverance is not done. The core mission of the rover is just over two years, but it could last well beyond that.

More information: S. Maurice et al, In situ recording of Mars soundscape, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04679-0 Journal information: Nature

There will be a new year in 2022.

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