How sound changes on Mars

The landing of NASA’s Perseverance on Mars is a historic milestone. The information it provides is still remarkable. The microphones integrated into the rover helped discover something new: the speed of sound there is different. There, our voice would sound different. Today we will explain how sound changes on Mars.

This is how sound changes on Mars.
This is how sound changes on Mars.

New sounds

The goal is that in a few years mankind will reach Mars and may even colonize it. For this to become a reality, all aspects of its reality must be known. For example, sound, which is extremely important for communication.

Measurements were presented at the 53rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. It was held at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Mars does not have a single speed of sound, like Earth. It varies by the temperature and density of the medium. The red planet has some peculiarities in its atmosphere that affect the speed of sound. The speed was calculated to be 240 meters per second; don’t forget that the measurement could change under other conditions.

Thanks to the rover's microphones, it was learned that the speed of sound is different.
Thanks to the rover’s microphones, it was learned that the speed of sound is different.

Hearing Mars

You too can get a clearer idea of what sound is like on Mars. You can go to this web page (https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-sounds/) from NASA. It lets you know how some familiar sounds from Earth would sound on Mars. These include a child’s greeting, birdsong, the beeping of a truck backing up, or the bell of a bicycle. Scientists anticipate what they would sound like there. The differences are subtle. This is how sound changes on Mars according to scientists.

The microphone aboard Perseverance records natural sounds on Mars. It captures sounds from the rover’s laser that turns rock into plasma when it hits a target to gather information. The SuperCam microphone is located on the rover’s remote sensing mast. And it is capable of pointing in the direction of a possible sound source.

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