The Perseverance rover continues to chart its course.
(Illustration) -
NASA JPL-Caltech
After the sound of the Martian breeze heard shortly after Perseverance landed on February 22 on Mars, NASA offers a new glimpse of what is happening on the red planet.
The American space agency released a 16-minute sound on Wednesday from the rover rolling on the distant planet, reports
Numerama
.
This is a first in the history of the Martian conquest.
"Do you hear that?"
It's my sound driving on Martian rocks.
This is the first time that we have captured sounds while driving on Mars ”, we can read on the Nasa Twitter account dedicated to Perseverance.
Two audio sequences were unveiled.
The first lasts 16 minutes.
It comes from a recording of the rover made on March 7.
During this time, the rover, which is to study the surface of Mars and collect samples of the planet's soil, has traveled about 27 meters.
🔊 Hear that?
That's the sound of me driving over Martian rocks.
This is the first time we've captured sounds while driving on Mars.
Read full story: https://t.co/oqdnCJShjm pic.twitter.com/yKwypUSnE7
- NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) March 17, 2021
Parasitic noise filtered
The second sound that has been shared is a shorter segment of the first recording.
It lasts 90 seconds and combines three parts of it.
For better listening, NASA engineers have reworked the sound recording to extract parasitic noises.
In both cases, we hear the sound of the rover advancing on Martian soil that seems noisy, as well as the clicking of the six wheels of the machine.
It has two microphones: a scientific microphone installed on the SuperCam instrument and a microphone positioned on the side of the rover.
This one had to capture the noise of the descent of the machine during its landing on the red planet but it was a failure.
The microphone remains operational, however.
A Martian sound bank
NASA has already compiled a playlist of eight sounds on the Soundcloud platform.
We find there the two driving sequences, the Martian wind but also the first sound recordings of the laser of the SuperCam instrument.
These sounds obtained with the scientific microphone provide information on the chemical composition of the rock or its hardness.
Science
Mars: According to NASA, some terrestrial organisms could survive on the red planet
Science
Perseverance will soon be able to start its samples on Mars
Science
Space
Nasa
Perseverance
March