Mars is a quiet planet in which sound travels slowly and at two different speeds

Find Android MobileDiligence“NASA” revealed the secrets of the magnificent sound scene of Mars, and it became clear from the rover’s recording. The red planet Quiet, in which the sound travels slowly and at two different speeds.

What to do if a robot lands? American Space Agency On the surface of Mars a year ago, in the history of space exploration until the first audio recording was sent to Mars by microphone, at the frequencies audible by the human ear, achieved beyond previous missions.

Turbulent systems

Behind the roar of the vehicle, the sound of the wind was clearly heard in this post. Thus, after 50 years of research vehicles sending thousands of images to Earth, the Red Planet emerged from a “sound-free state,” according to the National Science Research Center in France. In the science journal “Nature” on Friday.

This first audio recording showed the existence of previously unknown turbulent systems on Mars, according to Sylvester Morris, the study’s lead author, co – director of the “supercam” device carried by the robot, and the designer of the microphone. Founded by “Isae-Supaero” in Toulouse, France. .

But this post is not enough to create a clear picture. Morris, an astronomer at the university’s Astronomy and Planetary Research Institute, said that because Mars is so quiet most of the time, two “active” sources must be used to capture the robot’s assets before sending them to Mars. Toulouse, for AFP.

There are two speeds of sound on Mars

His team benefited from laser shots to explore their chemical composition with the “brilliance” of the miniature helicopter that came with the robot and the sound of it colliding with Mars. The researcher pointed out that the footage “provided a highly localized sound source two to five meters away from its target and the exact time of its shooting was known.”

The speed of sound in the field can be measured, and it is 240 meters per second, 340 meters per second on Earth. Surprisingly, the speed of sound is slow in terms of the composition of Mars’ atmosphere (96% carbon dioxide as opposed to 0.004 percent on Earth) and its very low pressure (170 times that of Earth).

However, the surprise came from the sound of the laser reaching 250 meters per second. “I was a little scared there!” Said Sylvester Morris. “On Earth, I told myself that a measurement would not be true because there is only one speed of sound near the surface.”

In fact, Mars has two speeds of sound: one for high pitch sounds (laser) and one for low pitch sounds (helicopter). In addition, “noise reduction is stronger on Mars than on Earth, especially at high altitudes, and fades very quickly even over short distances,” says the researcher. According to the National Center for Scientific Research, it “creates a difficult conversation between two people, only five meters apart.”

The researcher compared it to a concert and said, “On Earth, the sounds of the orchestra, low or high, come to you at the same speed. Imagine what would happen to Mars if you were a little farther away from the stage. … It would take a long time for the noise to come.”

Successful science betting

Morris believed that the “scientific race” to match space travel with a microphone had succeeded. Although this new instrument is still in its infancy, its constant listening to the sounds of Mars helps us to better understand its atmosphere, which may have been similar to Earth in the past, and may have provided the appropriate conditions for their existence. Patterns of organisms.

Paris Laboratory Theory Future – PSL, one of the authors of the study, predicts that the analysis of turbulent sounds, such as vertical winds, called “convection” will “allow the use of numerical models for Mars weather and weather forecasts”.

It could be conducted by the same type of instruments for sound studies of the atmospheres of Venus and Titan, one of Saturn’s moons.