Hear the Wind on Mars
When I first heard it, it sounded like a brief, blustery outtake. A momentary lull in an outdoor event captured by an old camcorder. A sonic slice of a windy afternoon anywhere on Earth.
The sound was indeed wind whipping past a microphone. But wind on another planet. Wind on Mars. The recording, released by NASA in December 2022, is the first time humans have ever heard a Mars-made sound.
Scientists have known for years that the surface of the Red Planet is alive with wind, which creates spiraling dust devils—and planet-engulfing megastorms. But until now they’ve had to watch these events unfold in frustrated silence. “It’s like you’ve experienced something with one of your senses for a long time, but you’ve never experienced it with another,” says Roger Wiens, a professor of planetary science at Purdue University. “And now we have that second sense experience.”
