Mars rover records noise from Martian dust storm

For the first time here on Earth we can hear sounds from Mars. This thanks to the microphone on board the Mars rover Perseverance.

Martian dust storm sounds worse than it is

The Mars rover Perseverance survived a Martian dust storm. This sounds more exciting than it is, because Mars’ atmosphere is only 1% as dense as Earth’s. Even when it storms hard on Mars, you hardly notice it. But because the dust on Mars is so fine, the dust storms on Mars can still obstruct visibility considerably. And of course it’s bad news for instruments and vehicles on Mars if that fine dust permeates everything.

But meanwhile, the researchers were very happy with this event. The chance was only a few percent that this would ever happen. Tornado chasing is obviously not possible with a bulky Mars rover that only travels a few meters a day. So this was a great fluke. Especially since the dust devil passed directly over the Mars rover.

First-ever sound recording of a dust devil on Mars

This has been known for a while, but now for the first time in history, a Mars rover has recorded the sound a dust devil makes on Mars. A dust devil is a kind of innocent mini tornado, which you sometimes experience on earth.

According to lead researcher Naomi Murdoch of the University of Toulouse in France, you can even hear the sound of the particles hitting the Mars rover. That way they can count how many particles were in the vortex.

The sound reached three peaks. The researchers had expected that there were only two, namely the times when the outer edge of the dust devil hit the Mars rover twice. They couldn’t explain the middle peak yet, but it may have something to do with the strange cloud hanging over the dust devil.