In good news in terms of studying the climate of Mars, the “Perseverance” rover was able to record the sound of the “dust” phenomenon, in a very important precedent that will help to better understand the climate of the Red Planet.
These so-called “convective vortices”, similar to the sand whirlwinds that strike some deserts on Earth, are one of the main atmospheric phenomena on Mars, a dry planet with a very sparse atmosphere.
They form when there is a strong temperature difference between the soil and the air, and often get in the way of robotic exploration missions sent by humans. Also, the Jezero crater, where the mobile “Perseverance” robot has been operating since February 2021, witnesses many of these phenomena, but this vehicle manufactured by the US Space Agency “NASA” was not able to directly monitor its sound before.
Fortunately, on September 27, a whirlwind 118 meters high passed over the robot’s head and its “SuperCam” instrument equipped with a microphone recorded the first sound from Mars immediately following its descent. The data reached Earth a few days later.
The lead author of the study, whose results were published in the journal Nature Communications, Naomi Murdock, told the French agency, “When we realized that we had obtained the images from the camera and also the data of the weather and acoustic sensors at the site, we felt as if we had won the jackpot!”
“We hear the wind associated with the whirlwind, the moment it arrives, then everything disappears because we are in the eye of the vortex, then the sound returns once more when the microphone passes through the second wall,” added the planetary scientist at the Isai-Supero Institute in the French city of Toulouse, where he designed the microphone.
The microphone, in particular, transmitted a precise clicking sound that allows for “particle counting” in order to be able to study the structure and behavior of dust.
“The dust cycle on Mars and in the sky plays a very important role in climate, like the water cycle on Earth,” said Naomi Murdock.
