Hear the sounds of Mars: How NASA records audio from Perseverance rover
Share
TORONTO -
For the first time ever, thanks to the Perseverance rover, humans are able to hear sounds produced on Mars.
NASA released details of the microphones installed on the rover spacecraft this week, along with a video featuring several sound clips. Longer versions of the clips are available on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover website.
Nearly five hours of wind gusts, motor sounds and rover wheels traversing the ground beneath them have been recorded. The sounds give scientists a new dimension through which to observe the Red Planet.
"It's like you're really standing there," Baptiste Chide, a planetary scientist who studies data from the microphones at L'Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie in France, said on the NASA website. "Martian sounds have strong bass vibrations, so when you put on headphones, you can really feel it. I think microphones will be an important asset to future Mars and solar system science."
There are two microphones aboard the six-wheeled rover, one on the port side and one on its mast as part of the SuperCam instrument. The SuperCam studies rocks and soil by zapping them with a laser before analyzing the resulting vapour with a camera.
Those laser zaps have been caught on microphone as well, with more than 25,000 being recorded to date.
Some sounds can also help analyze changes in the planet's atmosphere. The microphone on the mast can work with the rover's wind sensors in monitoring minute shifts in the air, also known as microturbulence.
"From the weather scientist's point of view, each perspective -- detail and context -- complements one another," said Jose Rodriguez-Manfredi of the Centro de Astrobiología at the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial in Madrid.
The atmosphere on Mars is much less dense than it is on Earth, which means high-pitched sounds would be difficult to hear. But scientists were apparently surprised when the buzzing of Ingenuity's rotors was picked up from 80 metres away during one of its flights. Ingenuity is a small robotic helicopter assigned to help with Perseverance's mission.
Information from the helicopter audio led researchers to eliminate two of three models they had developed about how sound propagates on Mars.
"Sound on Mars carries much farther than we thought," said Nina Lanza, a SuperCam scientist who works with the microphone data. "It shows you just how important it is to do field science."
Another thing sound may be able to help with is maintenance on Perseverance. Microphones could help engineers listen for problems the same way a mechanic may listen to a faulty car engine.
The Perseverance team is in the process of collecting a large number of recordings so that they may be better able to detect changes in the rover's systems over time.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
The current overall public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus is low, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but urged countries to stay alert for cases of animal-to-human transmission.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
An idyllic 453-acre private island is up for sale off the west coast of Scotland and it comes with sandy beaches, puffins galore, seven houses, a pub, a helipad and a flock of black-faced sheep.
King Charles III’s doctors are 'sufficiently pleased' with his cancer treatment and he is expected to return to public-facing duties, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
An investigation is underway after a Regina police officer was accidentally shot by a fellow officer’s gun during the search of a house early Friday morning.
A CSIS officer's allegations that she was raped repeatedly by a superior in agency vehicles set off a harassment inquiry, but also triggered an investigation into her that concluded the alleged attacks were a “misuse” of agency vehicles by the woman.
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.
Environmentalist groups are sounding the alarm about a steep increase in the number of pro-plastic lobbyists at the UN pollution talks taking place this week.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Columbia's embattled president came under renewed pressure on Friday as a university oversight committee met to address her attempt two weeks ago to clamp down on protests that have roiled the Ivy League school and spread across the country and aboard.
The military horses that bolted and ran loose when spooked by construction noise in central London earlier this week "continue to be cared for and closely observed," the British Army said Friday.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country's farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
The practice of giving sedatives to people detained by police has spread quietly across the U.S. over the last 15 years, built on questionable science and backed by police-aligned experts, an investigation led by The Associated Press has found.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
The current overall public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus is low, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but urged countries to stay alert for cases of animal-to-human transmission.
TikTok is in the crosshairs of authorities in the U.S., where a new law threatens a nationwide ban unless its China-based parent ByteDance divests. Here are the places that have partial or total bans on TikTok.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning new image of the glowing gas ejected from a dying star, which in this case happens to resemble a 'cosmic dumbbell.'
After years of delays and a dizzying array of setbacks during test flights, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is finally set to make its inaugural crewed launch.
A pair of Montreal designers' work has now been viewed over 41 million times. Taylor Swift dons a Victorian throwback black gown in her latest music video, 'Fortnight', designed by UNTTLD due Simon Belanger and Jose Manuel Saint-Jacques.
Ellen DeGeneres is reflecting on how her talk show came to an end. The comedian began performing her 'Ellen's Last Stand…Up Tour' this week, her first major project since 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' finished its run in 2022.
Mary J. Blige's "Strength of a Woman Festival and Summit" is partnering with Pepsi to launch a fund with US$100,000 available as grants to local organizations whose work elevates and educates underserved women in Yonkers.
The federal and Quebec governments are spending close to $100 million to boost the country's manufacturing capacity for semiconductors, which are vital in technologies ranging from artificial intelligence to quantum computing.
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Ford’s electric vehicle unit reported that losses soared in the first quarter to US $1.3 billion, or US$132,000 for each of the 10,000 vehicles it sold in the first three months of the year.
An idyllic 453-acre private island is up for sale off the west coast of Scotland and it comes with sandy beaches, puffins galore, seven houses, a pub, a helipad and a flock of black-faced sheep.
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
Legendary sportscaster Bob Cole was a Newfoundlander through and through, and his daughter says his connection to the province was 'everything' to him.
Ford’s electric vehicle unit reported that losses soared in the first quarter to US $1.3 billion, or US$132,000 for each of the 10,000 vehicles it sold in the first three months of the year.
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Homicide detectives investigating a fatal stabbing in White Rock, B.C., say there were several witnesses in the area during the altercation between the 26-year-old victim and the perpetrator who remains at large.
An 11-year-old boy struck by a transport truck in Etobicoke on Friday morning suffered critical injuries and is receiving treatment at a Toronto trauma centre, police say.
A man has been transported to hospital in serious condition after police say he jumped on the subway tracks at Sherbourne Station while attempting to flee from officers.
A pair of Montreal designers' work has now been viewed over 41 million times. Taylor Swift dons a Victorian throwback black gown in her latest music video, 'Fortnight', designed by UNTTLD due Simon Belanger and Jose Manuel Saint-Jacques.
An emergency moving service for victims of domestic violence says it is trying to keep up with demand. Shelter Movers Montreal's goal is to get victims out of their homes before the abuse escalates.
An Edmonton radio host created a petition to stop country music singer Brett Kissel from performing the anthem at Oilers playoff games – and Kissel signed it.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.
King Charles III’s doctors are 'sufficiently pleased' with his cancer treatment and he is expected to return to public-facing duties, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
An investigation is underway after a Regina police officer was accidentally shot by a fellow officer’s gun during the search of a house early Friday morning.
Fire restrictions are currently in effect for three Saskatchewan provincial parks and multiple rural and urban municipalities (RM) and individual communities around the province.
A 57-year-old man was transported to an out-of-region hospital with serious injuries after police say he was hit by a driver who did not remain at the scene.
For the first time since 1993 two Saskatchewan teams will face each other in the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Eastern Conference Final as the Moose Jaw Warriors and Saskatoon Blades get their third round series underway Friday night
Fire restrictions are currently in effect for three Saskatchewan provincial parks and multiple rural and urban municipalities (RM) and individual communities around the province.
A month after an accidental fire forced more than 100 people out of their apartments at the Empire Complex in Timmins, residents are now dealing with being victims of theft.
A fatal crash in Thames Centre closed down a portion of Highway 401 westbound. Around 2:15 a.m., first responders were called to westbound lanes of the highway between Culloden and Putnam Roads for a two-vehicle crash.
An unknown number of people have been taken to hospital following a crash in Oxford County. OPP are on scene of the two-vehicle crash at 37th Line and Road 74 in Zorra.
Search and rescue crews have been called in after a vehicle belonging to a missing senior was located near a rural intersection outside of Kelowna Tuesday.
Major crime detectives in British Columbia are investigating a suspected homicide after a body was found in a remote area southeast Kelowna over the weekend.
Meeting next week, city council in Sault Ste. Marie will get an overview of what to expect if it decides to implement a new tax on empty homes in the city.
The Ontario Provincial Police, in partnership with the Treaty Three Police Service, have charged a suspect with murder following a homicide in a remote northwestern Ontario community.
Legendary sportscaster Bob Cole was a Newfoundlander through and through, and his daughter says his connection to the province was 'everything' to him.
As more Canadians find themselves struggling to afford or find housing, the country's smallest province is the only one that can point to legislation recognizing housing as a human right.