Unlike previous rovers, most Perseverance cameras capture color images. And we have already seen the first panoramic snapshots. But there is more. NASA's Perseverance rover has sent out a set of sounds from the planet's surface, marking the first time a Mars rover has been equipped with a microphone.
The microphone is installed on the side of the vehicle and its sounds were recorded on February 20, 2021, two Earth days after reaching the surface of the Jezero crater. It is a few seconds of which, in the second recording , a Martian breeze is heard , as well as the mechanical sounds of the rover operating on the surface.
This is the recording.
"What you hear in 10 seconds is a real gust of wind on the surface of Mars caught by the microphone and sent back to Earth," says Dave Gruel, lead engineer for the camera and microphone system at Perseverance.
As we already know, a priority goal of the Perseverance mission on Mars is astrobiology , including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will examine the planet's geology and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.
Reference: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA
