--- title: "Listen to the Sounds NASA’s Rover Makes As It Drives Around Mars" description: "NASA has released recordings of its Perseverance rover driving on the surface of Mars. And it sounds rough." date: "2021-03-18" modified: "2021-03-18" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/listen-sounds-nasa-rover-makes-drives-around-mars" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "mars" - "NASA" - "perseverance" - "the digest" --- # Listen to the Sounds NASA’s Rover Makes As It Drives Around Mars ![NASA has released recordings of its Perseverance rover driving on the surface of Mars. And it sounds rough.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Crunch Time NASA has released yet another microphone recording, sent all the way from Mars. The latest audio, courtesy of the agency's Perseverance rover, includes the bonks, screeches, and rattles of the robot's six wheels as they make their way over the Red Planet's rocky terrain. "A lot of people, when they see the images, don't appreciate that the wheels are metal," said Vandi Verma, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory tasked with driving the rover, in [a statement](). "When you're driving with these wheels on rocks, it's actually very noisy." https://soundcloud.com/nasa/sounds-of-perseverance-mars-rover-driving-sol-16-90-second-highlights ## Pull Over The 16 minutes of incredible, first-of-a-kind sounds of a rover moving on Mars were taken by the rover's entry, descent, and landing (EDL) microphone, which still miraculously works after the rover's plummet towards the Martian surface on February 18. "If I heard these sounds driving my car, I'd pull over and call for a tow," said lead engineer for the EDL system Dave Gruel. "But if you take a minute to consider what you're hearing and where it was recorded, it makes perfect sense." Previously, Perseverance has also blessed us with recordings of [Martian winds]() and the [sound of its laser]() impacting a nearby rock. It's the first time an actual microphone has been used to make recordings on the surface of Mars. NASA has tried to send microphones to Mars on a number of occasions in the past, but they all have either failed or never turned on. **READ MORE:** [Perseverance rover captures the sounds of driving on Mars]() \[NASA\] **More on** **Perseverance:** [NASA’s New Rover Just Shot a Rock With Its Laser]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()