This recording was made by the SuperCam instrument on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on Feb. 19, 2021, just about 18 hours after landing on the mission’s first sol or Martian day. The rover’s mast, holding the microphone, was still stowed on Perseverance’s deck, and so the sound is muffled, a little like the sound one hears listening to a seashell or having a hand cupped over the ear. Just a little wind can be heard.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/ISAE-Supaero

First Audio Recording of Sounds on Mars

This is the first acoustic recording of laser impacts on a rock target on Mars from March 2, 2021, the 12th sol (Martian day) from Perseverance’s SuperCam instrument. The sounds of 30 impacts are heard, some slightly louder than others. Variations in the intensity of the zapping sounds will provide information on the physical structure of the targets, such as its relative hardness or the presence of weathering coatings. The target, Máaz (“Mars” in Navajo), was about 10 feet (3.1 m) away.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/ISAE-Supaero

First Acoustic Recording of Laser Shots on Mars

This recording was made on Feb. 22, 2021, on the fourth sol (Martian day) by the SuperCam instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover after deployment of the rover’s mast. It provides a different overall sound than the SuperCam audio recording from the mission’s first sol. Some wind can be heard, especially around 20 seconds into the recording. Rover background sounds have been removed.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/ISAE-Supaero

Perseverance Rover’s SuperCam Records Wind on Mars

Listen to 16 minutes of raw, unfiltered sounds of the Perseverance Mars rover traveling in Jezero Crater. The noise generated by the interaction of the rover’s wheels and suspension with the surface can be heard, along with a high-pitched scratching noise. Perseverance’s engineering team continues to evaluate the source of the scratching noise, which may either be electromagnetic interference from one of the rover’s electronics boxes or interactions between the rover mobility system and the Martian surface. The entry, descent, and landing microphone was not intended for surface operations and had limited testing in this configuration before launch.
 
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Sounds of Perseverance Mars Rover Driving – Sol 16 (16 minutes)

NASA engineers combined three segments from the raw audio file recorded while the Perseverance Mars rover rolled across a section of Jezero Crater on sol 16 of the mission. Sections 0:20-0:45, 6:40-7:10, and 14:30-15:00 were combined into this 90-second highlight clip. There has been processing and editing to filter out some of the noise.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Sounds of Perseverance Mars Rover Driving – Sol 16 (90-second highlights)

This recording was made by the Perseverance Mars rover on February 9, 2022 (Sol 346). The puffs and pings of the rover’s Gaseous Dust Removal Tool (gDRT) were collected using a microphone on the rover’s chassis. The gRDT has a tank of nitrogen gas and is used during sample collection to blow the dust away and reveal the fresh rock surface underneath.

Perseverance Rover Records Puffs and Pings of Gaseous Dust Removal Tool (14 minutes)

Astronomical data from the supermassive black hole at the center of the Perseus galaxy cluster has been translated into sounds we can hear.
artist: Chandra X-ray Observatory
(Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K. Arcand, M. Russo & A. Santaguida)

Black Hole 'Sound' in the Perseus Galaxy Cluster

This audio shows the results of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover using its SuperCam microphone to record the sounds of a Martian dust devil – the first time any such recording has been made. The dust devil passed directly over Perseverance on Sept. 27, 2021, the 215th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/INTA-CSIC/Space Science Institute/ISAE-Supaero

NASA's Perseverance Records a Martian Dust Devil

This audio is the air compressor for MOXIE pumping air on Mars. MOXIE was launched aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover to test a technology for extracting oxygen from the Red Planet’s carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. 
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/CNES/IRAP

MOXIE's Air Compressor Pumping Away on Mars

This image shows the region around the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), in infrared (orange and purple) and X-ray light (blue). The image is scanned from left to right and the data are transformed into sound. The brightness of the objects is represented by the volume, while the vertical positions of the sources in the image are mapped to musical pitches. X-rays are played with a soft synthesizer and the infrared data are heard as bass notes and plucked sounds. The brightest region in the middle of the image (and hence the loudest) is where Sgr A* the black hole, resides. It is within this area that the Event Horizon Telescope was able to peer to obtain the first image of Sgr A* itself.

Sagittarius A* Sonification

MSH 15-52 is a cloud of energized particles blown away from a dead, collapsed star. This image includes X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (orange, green and blue) as well as the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE (purple). X-ray data have been combined with infrared data from the Dark Energy Plane Survey 2 (red and blue). In sound, the scan goes from the bottom to the top. The brightness of the Chandra data of the cloud has been converted into rough string-like sounds, while the blast wave is represented by a range of pitches of firework-type noises. The IXPE data are heard as wind-like sounds. The infrared data are mapped to musical pitches of a synthesizer sound. The light curve, or brightness over time, from the dead star’s collapsed core is heard in pulses that occur almost 7 times every second as it does in the original data.

Credits: Images: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford Univ./R. Romani et al. (Chandra); NASA/MSFC (IXPE); Infrared: NOIRLab/DECam; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt; Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)


Chandra/IXPE/DEPS2 B1509 (MSH 15-52) Sonification

On episode 382, an experienced commentator of more than 80 shuttle flights shares lessons of communications and leadership ahead of his retirement. 

Houston We Have a Podcast: This is Mission Control Houston

What can the auroras tell us about our planet’s relationship with the Sun? NASA’s EZIE mission looks into it.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Podcast Episode 152: EZIE Does It

On episode 383, four NASA flight controllers discuss specialized operations like spacewalks and spacecraft arrivals that keep the International Space Station running. 



Houston We Have a Podcast: MCC Special Operations

Houston We Have a Podcast: Natural Disaster Response

NASA's SPHEREx mission will map 450 million galaxies like we’ve never seen before.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps Episode 153: The Universe in Living Color with SPHEREx

Houston We Have a Podcast: Commercial and International Lunar Rovers

Houston We Have a Podcast: Moon Material Flammability

NASA’s Air Traffic Management-eXploration Project aims to accommodate the growing demand of traditional and emerging aircraft that share the friendly skies. 

Episode 154: NASA's Air Traffic Management-eXploration Project

Houston We Have a Podcast: Mission Control - Eye of the Storm

On episode 388, NASA and Axiom Space’s mission managers discuss how they work together to enable private astronaut missions ahead of Axiom Mission 4’s launch. 

Houston We Have a Podcast: Private Astronaut Mission Management

This is a sound that was electronically placed onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Golden Record: Music of The Spheres

This is a sound that was electronically placed onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. 

Golden Record: Wind, Rain, Surf

Golden Record: Fire, Speech

Golden Record: The First Tools

Golden Record: Morse Code, Ships

Golden Record: Horse And Cart

Golden Record: Train

Golden Record: Tractor, Bus, Auto

Golden Record: Kiss, Mother And Child

Golden Record: Life Signs, Pulsar

This is a greeting to the universe that was electronically placed on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

English Translation: "May all be very well"

Golden Record: Akkadian Greeting

This is a greeting to the universe that was electronically placed on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

English Translation: "Friends of space, how are you all? Have you eaten yet? Come visit us if you have time."

Golden Record: Amoy (Min Dialect)Greeting

This is a greeting to the universe that was electronically placed on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

English Translation: "Greetings to our friends in the stars. We wish that we will meet you someday."

Golden Record: Arabic Greeting

This is a greeting to the universe that was electronically placed on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

English Translation: "Hello from the children of planet Earth."

Golden Record: English Greeting

This is a greeting to the universe that was electronically placed on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

English Translation: "Hello everybody."

Golden Record: French Greeting

Data from the European Space Agency and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has captured the dynamic movement of the Sun’s atmosphere for over 20 years. Today, we can hear the Sun’s movement — all of its waves, loops and eruptions — with our own ears.

This story incorporates data sonified by the Stanford Experimental Physics Lab and music from Lee Rosevere.

10 Minute Meditations

Flow

Sounds of the Sun

The Stanford Experimental Physics Lab sonified data from the European Space Agency and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). This humming sound captures the Sun’s natural vibrations and provides scientists with a concrete representation of its dynamic movements.

For more solar sounds, visit: http://soi.stanford.edu/results/sounds.html

Sun Sonification

This set of sounds from the surface of Mars were recorded by the microphone on the side of NASA’s Perseverance Rover on February 20, 2021. In the first set, sounds from the rover itself dominate. In the second set, the sound was filtered to make sounds from Mars more audible. You can hear a little wind in the second set. 
 
This is the first time a Mars rover has been equipped with a microphone. The images in this video were taken by Perseverance's Navigation Cameras, or Navcams, on the same day as the microphone sounds, Feb. 20, 2021.
 
For more information about Perseverance, visit https://mars.nasa.gov/perseverance
 
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Sounds From Mars: Filters Out Rover Self-Noise

On February 18, 2021, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover completed its 300 million mile journey and landed safely on the Red Planet. Here’s what it heard. This special episode of NASA’s Curious Universe features the first-ever raw recorded sounds from Mars. Jim Green, David Gruel, and Erisa Stilley take you through landing day and explain what you’re hearing.

NASA's Curious Universe Podcast: Sounds of Mars

Hello, we’re NASA. You may have seen our astronauts, rocket launches, or Mars rovers — but have you heard our sounds? From interviews with astronauts and engineers to stories that take you on a tour of the galaxy, NASA’s audio offerings let you experience the thrill of space exploration without ever leaving Earth.

Popular tracks by NASA