NASA - Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover logo.
Feb 23, 2021
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. 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.
Perseverance’s First Sounds from Mars
Video above: The microphone on the side of NASA’s Perseverance Rover recorded these sounds on 20 February 2021. Wind is audible in the filtered section. This is the first time a Mars rover has been equipped with a microphone. Video Credit: Audio and image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SciNews.
Image above: This is the first high-resolution, color image to be sent back by the Hazard Cameras on the underside of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover after its landing on Feb. 18, 2021. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Perseverance’s first panorama on Mars
Video above: Panorama composed of six individual images taken by the Navigation Cameras (Navcams) on NASA’s Perseverance rover, 20 February 2021. The Navcams also captured a view of the rover’s deck. Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SciNews.
More About the Mission
A key objective of Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
For more about Perseverance:
https://www.nasa.gov/perseverance and https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020
Image (mentioned), Videos (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Sean Potter/Alana Johnson/Grey Hautaluoma/JPL/DC Agle.
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