NASA Reveals That Sound on Mars Travels at Two Speeds

The first five hours of noises gathered by the rover were published on April 1 in the Nature magazine, indicating that sound travels more slowly and travels a shorter distance on Mars than it does on Earth, owing to “the thin, chilly, carbon dioxide atmosphere” that exists there.

“The crackling strike of a rock-zapping laser” and “the swish of rotors” from the Mars chopper Ingenuity were among the other sounds heard throughout the mission.

There was also a delay effect in the recordings from Mars, which experts stated was due to the fact that the sounds travel at two separate rates, one for high-pitched sounds and another for lower frequencies.

“On Earth, sounds travel at an average speed of 767 miles per hour” (343 meters per second). NASA explains that “on Mars, low-pitched noises travel at around 537 mph (240 meters per second), whereas higher-pitched sounds travel at approximately 559 mph (250 meters per second).”

Hear some of the sounds caught by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover in the video below.