Mars sounds strange. Ricardo Hueso explains that Mars has strange sounding sounds because it has a thin atmosphere and is mainly made of carbon dioxide. Today, Nature publishes the first study of sounds of the red planet. It is based on recordings made by the Perseverance microphones. Asier Munguira, who is currently completing his doctorate at Bilbao School of Engineering, participated in the recording.
Sound travels at a speed of 340 meters per second on Earth. On the other side, it travels at a speed of 240 meters per sec. It travels at the same speed regardless of frequency on our planet. This is not true on Mars. Different frequencies are transmitted at different speeds. Hueso says that complex sounds such as a melody with multiple instruments playing bass and high treble simultaneously would be nearly impossible to identify.
Sound decays quickly with distance on Mars. Two people would have trouble having a conversation at 5 meters distance. At 10 meters, a conversation in a normal voice and without shouting would be completely unheard. A human shout could reach as far as several tens of meters.
Two Perseverance microphones recorded the sounds of wind in Jezero crater. This includes the sound of Ingenuity’s blades in flight. The MOXIE compressor, which extracts oxygen from the atmosphere, the sound of the SUV’s wheels moving and the laser hitting rock. The UPV/EHU astronomer says Mars is a very quiet planet. Some scientists were afraid that the microphones would have failed during the early stages of the mission.
