NASA Release first ever audio recordings from mars

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have released the first ever audio recordings from planetary body, Mars as wellthe rover Perseverance begin testing the planet’s surface.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) released two landmark audio recordings from the surface of Mars on Wednesday.

“The first recording was made by the SuperCam instrument on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on February 19, 2021, just about 18 hours after landing on the mission’s first sol or Martian day,” NASA said in a statement.

“The rover’s mast, holding the microphone, was still stowed on Perseverance’s deck, and so the sound is muffled, a little like the sound one hears listening to a seashell or having a hand cupped over the ear. Just a little wind can be heard.”

In the second audio, laser sounds can be heard as they impact a rock target to access the compositional constituents of the the matter.

“The sounds of 30 impacts are heard, some slightly louder than others. Variations in the intensity of the zapping sounds will provide information on the physical structure of the targets, such as its relative hardness or the presence of weathering coatings,” NASA wrote in a caption.

“The target, Máaz (‘Mars’ in Navajo), was about 10 feet (3.1 m) away.”

The Perseverance’s official Twitter account announced that they were “working with the Navajo Nation and their President, who are sharing their language to help us informally name features I’m exploring on Mars, like:

Tsé łichíí (red rock)

Yéigo (diligence)

Séítah (amongst the sand).” 

NASA further explained that the Navajo Nation had granted permission to the robot and its team to name features on Mars with words from the Navajo language. Perseverance championed this course itself by getting the name, “Ha’ahóni”.

Regarding the surface and atmospheric condition of the planet, NASA gave a thorough breakdown through researcher and planetary scientist Naomi Murdoch of Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE-SUPERAO),

“First of all, on the surface of Mars, we have a very low atmospheric pressure. It’s actually 150 times lower than on Earth.

“In addition, the atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide, and these two factors together mean that sound doesn’t propagate in the same way on the surface of Mars as it does on Earth.

“For that reason, the SuperCam microphone is particularly sensitive. And this allows us to record sounds despite the strong attenuation in the Martian atmosphere.”

You can download the sounds here.