NASA’s most up to date Mars wanderer has sent back the first-since forever sounds of driving on the red planet — a grinding, clanking, banging affair that by Earth guidelines would be really troubling.
The noises made by Perseverance’s six metal wheels and suspension on the first test drive two weeks prior are essential for a 16-minute raw audio feed released Wednesday by Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
“If I heard these sounds driving my car, I’d pull over and call for a tow,” Dave Gruel, an engineer on the rover team, said in a written NASA statement. “But if you take a minute to consider what you’re hearing and where it was recorded, it makes perfect sense.”
Perseverance — the greatest, most exceptional wanderer at any point shipped off Mars — arrived close to an antiquated river delta on Feb. 18 to look for indications of previous life. Samples will be taken from the most encouraging rocks for possible re-visitation of Earth.
The meanderer carries two microphones. One as of now has captured the sounds of wind and rock-zapping lasers, the different was intended to record the descent and landing. This second mike didn’t get any sounds of the wanderer’s landing in Mars, yet figured out how to record the first test drive March 4.
The driving audio contains a unexpected high-pitched scratching noise, as indicated by NASA. Engineers are attempting to sort it out.
Before it begins drilling into rocks for core samples, Perseverance will drop off an experimental tag-along helicopter, named Ingenuity. The helicopter will attempt the first powered, controlled trip on another planet at some point one month from now.
