Mars rover captures first sound of dust devil on red planet - NBC News

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — What’s a particulate devil dependable similar connected Mars? A NASA rover by accidental had its microphone connected erstwhile a whirling operation of reddish particulate passed straight overhead, signaling the racket.

It’s astir 10 seconds of not lone rumbling gusts of up to 25 mph, but the pinging of hundreds of particulate particles against the rover Perseverance. Scientists released the first-of-its-kind audio Tuesday.

It sounds strikingly akin to particulate devils connected Earth, though quieter since Mars’ bladed ambiance makes for much muted sounds and little forceful wind, according to the researchers.

The particulate devil came and went implicit Perseverance rapidly past year, frankincense the abbreviated magnitude of the audio, said the University of Toulouse’s Naomi Murdoch, pb writer of the survey appearing successful Nature Communications. At the aforesaid time, the navigation camera connected the parked rover captured images, portion its weather-monitoring instrumentality collected data.

“It was afloat caught red-handed by Persy,” said co-author German Martinez of the Lunar and Planetary Institute successful Houston.

Photographed for decades astatine Mars but ne'er heard until now, particulate devils are communal astatine the reddish planet. This 1 was successful the mean range: astatine slightest 400 feet gangly and 80 feet across, traveling astatine 16 feet per second.

The microphone picked up 308 particulate pings arsenic the particulate devil whipped by, said Murdoch, who helped physique it.

Given that the rover’s SuperCam microphone is turned connected for little than 3 minutes each fewer days, Murdoch said it was “definitely luck” that the particulate devil appeared erstwhile it did connected Sept. 27, 2021. She estimates determination was conscionable a 1-in-200 accidental of capturing dust-devil audio.

Of the 84 minutes collected successful its archetypal year, there’s “only 1 particulate devil recording,” she wrote successful an email from France.

This same microphone connected Perseverance’s mast provided the archetypal sounds from Mars — namely the Martian upwind — soon aft the rover landed successful February 2021. It followed up with audio of the rover driving around and its companion helicopter, small Ingenuity, flying nearby, as good arsenic the crackle of the rover’s rock-zapping lasers, the main crushed for the microphone.

These recordings let scientists to survey the Martian wind, atmospheric turbulence and present particulate question arsenic ne'er before, Murdoch said. The results "demonstrate conscionable however invaluable acoustic information tin beryllium successful abstraction exploration."

On the prowl for rocks that mightiness incorporate signs of past microbial life, Perseverance has collected 18 samples so acold astatine Jezero Crater, erstwhile the country of a stream delta. NASA plans to instrumentality these samples to Earth a decennary from now. The chopper Ingenuity has logged 36 flights, the longest lasting astir 3 minutes.