NASA releases first sound recording from Mars

NASA has released the first recording of audio from Mars, captured by a microphone on the side of a rover that recently landed on the red planet.

"This set of sounds from the surface of Mars were recorded by the microphone on the side of NASA’s Perseverance Rover on Feb. 20, 2021," according to NASA. "In the first set, sounds from the rover itself dominate. In the second set, the sound was filtered to make sounds from Mars more audible. You can hear a little wind in the second set."

The Perseverance Rover landed on Mars on February 18.

"A microphone attached to the rover did not collect usable data during the descent, but the commercial off-the-shelf device survived the highly dynamic descent to the surface and obtained sounds from Jezero Crater on Feb. 20," a press release said. "About 10 seconds into the 60-second recording, a Martian breeze is audible for a few seconds, as are mechanical sounds of the rover operating on the surface."