NASA has released the first-ever audio recording taken on the surface of Mars via one of the two microphones of its Perseverance rover. Ten seconds into the linked filtered audio recording (without rover noise), you can hear a Martian breeze. This is the first time a Mars rover has had a working microphone.
Previously On...: There have been previous attempts to bring microphones to Mars, but Perseverance is the first successful one. NASA’s Mars Polar Lander and Phoenix Lander had microphones. However, they either failed or never turned on.
Zoom In: NASA's Perseverance rover was launched at the end of July in 2020 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and after a 7-month journey, it safely touched down on Mars on the 18th of February. It will try to find some signs of microbial life on the red planet and collect samples, which NASA aims to bring back to Earth in 2026.
