![]() ![]() ![]() The SuperCam microphone captures thousands of sound snippets per second. “We’ve proved that we can do science with a microphone on Mars,” Chide says. Carbon dioxide molecules behave differently with one another when sound waves with frequencies above 240 hertz move through the air compared with those below 240 hertz, affecting the waves’ speed. The two speeds on Mars, the researchers say, are because of its carbon dioxide–rich atmosphere. In contrast, at Earth’s surface, sound moves through the air at only one speed, no matter the pitch. JPL-Caltech/NASA, LANL, CNES, CNRS, ISAE-Supaéro Because scientists know when the laser fires and how far away a target is, they can measure the speed at which that sound wave travels through the air toward the SuperCam microphone. When the laser hits a target, that blast creates a sound wave. (“It doesn’t do, really, ‘pew pew,’” Murdoch says). Murdoch, Chide and their colleagues listened to the laser’s clack-clack when zapping rocks. The microphone on SuperCam captures sounds from those laser shots, which helps researchers learn about the hardness of the target material, says planetary scientist Naomi Murdoch of the Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace in Toulouse, France. The SuperCam instrument, for example, has a laser, which Perseverance fires at interesting rocks for further analysis ( SN: 7/28/20). The other microphone is part of the rover’s SuperCam instrument, a mast-mounted mishmash of cameras and other sensors used to understand the properties of materials on the planet’s surface.īut these microphones also pick up other sounds, such as those made by the rover itself as its wheels crunch the surface, and by Perseverance’s flying companion, the robotic helicopter Ingenuity. One was meant to record audio during the mission’s complex entry, descent and landing, and while it didn’t work as hoped, it is now turned on occasionally to listen to the rover’s vitals ( SN: 2/22/21 SN: 2/17/21). To listen to the wind, Perseverance carries two microphones. “The wind is the sound of science for us,” says astrophysicist Baptiste Chide of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. ![]()
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