Perseverance has captured the sound of Martian wind. This is the first time when Martian sounds were captured. Perseverance sent back the sound to Earth station. NASA said that audio readings of Martian wind are mesmerizing. Perseverance is a car-sized rover. It landed on Mars in February. Its objective is to look for signs of microbial life on the planet. The agency said that Perseverance’s SuperCam instrument captured the sound. SuperCam instrument delivered the data to the French Space Agency’s operations center in Toulouse. This is the first sound of laser zaps on any other planet in the solar system. NASA said that the SuperCam is working well on the Red Planet.
NASA said that the first file captured the faint sounds. The second file captured a clear sound of the Martian wind. At 20 seconds, the wind is clearly audible. The second file was recorded on the fourth day of the rover’s stay. The third file has zapping sounds of the laser impacting Martian rocks on the surface. The laser targeted rocks at least 30 times that were at about 10 feet distance. Some of the zaps are louder than others. The agency said that zaps can provide information about the structure and hardness of the targets. SuperCam instrument used Raman spectroscopy. According to NASA, this is the first time when Raman spectroscopy was used outside Earth.
NASA said that SuperCam was developed by French research laboratories and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in DC. The instrument gives the ability to Perseverance to identify promising rock samples for a return mission. It can assist the rover to hear when the lasers strike rocks. The data will be essential in determining which rock samples should be brought back to Earth. After collecting samples, the rover will leave them on the planet’s surface for retrieval. NASA and ESA are jointly working on a sample-return mission from Mars. The two agencies will together provide logistical supports to bring back Martian rocks and dust.
