NASA has released the very first recordings of a vehicle traveling over Mars.
The metal wheels of the Mars Perseverance rover banged as it shuffled through the rocky terrain, heard in a few newly released audio clips.
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Two versions of the 90-foot drive on March 7 – recorded with the rover’s entry, descent and landing (EDL) microphone – were presented to the public in a press release on Wednesday.
The first version is the “raw cut”. Over 16 minutes in length, listeners can hear the rover’s mobility system as well as a high-pitched screech that engineers believe comes from electromagnetic interference or interactions between the suspension and the surface.
It is noted in the release that the EDL microphone was not intended for surface machining and had limited testing prior to launch.
The second version lasts only 90 seconds and filters out some of the sound from the unfiltered cut.
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“If I heard these noises driving in my car, I would stop and ask for a tug,” said Dave Gruel, chief engineer of the Mars 2020 EDL camera and microphone subsystem. “But if you take a moment to think about what you’re hearing and where it’s recorded, it makes perfect sense.”
On March 10, NASA also released clips of its SuperCam microphone showing both Martian wind and the sound of the instrument’s laser zap rocks could be heard.
Perseverance has undergone extensive testing since it landed on Mars on Feb. 18 in preparation for its next missions.
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The rover has begun searching for a suitable flight zone for the Ingenuity Mars helicopter to conduct its first flight tests, and on Wednesday, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced it had chosen a location.
Then Perseverance will begin its search in earnest for signs of ancient microbial life.