NASA’s Mars InSight lander, which arrived at the big red planet last month, is sending back data to Earth and some of that data is audio recording.
On December 1, the lander’s seismometer and air pressure sensor detected the wind’s vibrations. Scientists believe the wind to be coming from the Northwest at about 10-15mph, CBS News reports.
Bruce Banerdt, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explained that the noise wasn’t too surprising. “Capturing this audio was an unplanned treat, but one of the things [the InSight mission] is dedicated to is measuring motion on Mars, and naturally that includes motion caused by sound waves,” he said.
After traveling 300 million miles for seven months, the team responsible for the InSight lander can’t wait for more data to arrive home to Earth. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine describes this exciting time. “Hearing the first sounds ever recorded on the surface of another planet is a privilege. We have a great team, and we’re doing incredible things every day at NASA.”
Listen to the audio from Mars below:
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.