NASA records the sound of smooth breeze on Mars

The Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC), located on the robotic arm of NASA's InSight lander, took this picture of the Martian surface on Nov. 26, 2018, the same day the spacecraft touched down on the Red Planet. The camera's transparent dust cover is stil
The Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC), located on the robotic arm of NASA's InSight lander, took this picture of the Martian surface on Nov. 26, 2018, the same day the spacecraft touched down on the Red Planet. The camera's transparent dust cover is still on in this image, to prevent particulates kicked up during landing from settling on the camera's lens. This image was relayed from InSight to Earth via NASA's Odyssey spacecraft, currently orbiting Mars. NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Insight lander has successfully captured the first ever audible sound recording from Mars, and interestingly, this low rumble produced by the breeze on the red planet seems so soothing. The recording was made when winds that blew at a speed of 15 miles per hour moved over the solar panels of Insight.

Powerful sensors on the Insight lander that includes an air pressure sensor inside the lander and a seismometer on the lander's deck picked up these vibrations, and later, these recordings were sent back to the earth.

"This is the very first fifteen minutes of data that have come from the short period seismometer. It's a little like a flag waving in the wind. It really sounds otherworldly, and that is exactly what it is," said Thomas Pike, lead investigator at Imperial College London, Daily Mail reports.

Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California told that the recording of the strong gust of wind which blew across the surface of Mars was actually an unplanned treat for scientists at NASA.

This is not the first time that NASA is capturing sounds from the Martian surface. In 1976, NASA's Viking 1 and 2 landers had also picked up sounds from the red planet. However, the sounds recorded in 1976 were measured at a lower sampling rate, and that frequencies were not audible.

The Insight Mars Lander made its Mars touchdown on November 26, 2018. The Insight lander is responsible for studying the deep interior of Mars, and it will also look for potential signs of life below the Martian surface.

As the Mars lander made its touchdown on the red planet, some conspiracy theorists had argued that NASA has actually faked the landing. As per these theorists, NASA has intentionally staged the entire landing event in Hollywood movie sets for unknown motives.

This article was first published on December 8, 2018
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