National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA's) newest Mars rover has recorded the first-ever sounds of driving on the red planet — a grinding, crunching, clanking, rattling, banging affair that by Earth standards would be pretty worrisome.
The noises made by Perseverance's six metallic wheels and suspension on the first test drive two weeks ago are part of a 16-minute raw audio feed released Wednesday by Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Now, taking to Twitter, NASA has released an audio recording captured as the rover drove across Martian soil.
"Hear that? That’s the sound of me driving over Martian rocks. This is the first time we’ve captured sounds while driving on Mars," NASA wrote on the microblogging site.
NASA has released two versions of the audio — one 90-second file edited and processed to filter out background noise, and another 16-minute clip with raw, unfiltered sound.
"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."
The rover's aluminum wheels are about 20.7 inches (52.5 centimeters) in diameter. The six wheels have cleats for traction and titanium spokes for "springy support," NASA says.
Perseverance — the biggest, most advanced rover ever sent to Mars — landed near an ancient river delta on 18 February to search for signs of past life. Samples will be taken from the most promising rocks for eventual return to Earth.
The rover carries two microphones. One already has captured the sounds of wind and rock-zapping lasers, the other was meant to record the descent and landing. This second mike didn't pick up any sounds of the rover's arrival at Mars, but managed to record the first test drive 4 March.
The driving audio contains an unexpected high-pitched scratching noise, according to NASA. Engineers are trying to figure it out.
Before it starts 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 flight on another planet sometime next month.
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