CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) – NASA’s newest rover on Mars has sent back the first sounds of leadership to the red planet – a noisy, noisy business that, by Earth’s standards, would be quite worrying.
sounds made by Perseverance’s six metal wheels and suspension on the first test drive two weeks ago are part of a 16-minute raw audio feed launched Wednesday by Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
“If I heard these sounds driving my car, I would pass by and ask for a tow,” Dave Gruel, an engineer on the rover team, said in a written statement from NASA. “But if you need a minute to consider what you hear and where it was recorded, it makes sense.”
Perseverance – the largest and most advanced rover ever sent to Mars – landed near an ancient river delta on February 18 to look for signs of past life. The samples will be taken from the most promising rocks for a possible return to Earth.
The rover has two microphones. One has already captured the sounds of wind and rock lasers, the other was meant to record descent and landing. This second microphone did not hear any sound of the rover’s arrival on Mars, but managed to record the first test drive on March 4.
The driving audio contains a strong unexpected scratch noise, according to NASA. Engineers are trying to figure it out.
Before you start drilling into rocks for basic samples, Perseverance will leave an experimental labeling helicopter, called Ingenuity. The helicopter will attempt its first motorized and controlled flight to another planet sometime next month.
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