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The sounds of Mars
Check video with sounds from the Ingenuity helicopter recorded by Perseverance
Helicóptero Ingenuity e rover Perseverance
Divulgação/Nasa
Gabriela Ramos
5/14/2021
The Perseverance rover, which had already been capturing images from the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, recorded for the first time the sounds of an aircraft on another planet. The helicopter flew for the fourth time on the red planet on April 30.
The sounds were picked up by the microphone that is part of Perseverance's SuperCam. The sound is drowned out by the strong winds from Mars and the planet's fine atmosphere, but in the background the noise of the helicopter's propellers, which resembles a cricket's singing, can be heard at 2,537 rpm (revolutions per minute). The rover was positioned about 80 meters away from the place where the helicopter took off and the team did not know if it would be possible to hear it or not, and, in the treatment of the captured media, it made a reduction in the other noise recorded to give highlight the sounds of Ingenuity.
According to David Mimoun, professor of planetary science at ISAE-SUPAERO, this was a pleasant surprise: “we did tests and simulations that told us that the microphone would barely pick up the sounds of the helicopter, since the atmosphere of Mars strongly dampens the propagation of sound. We were lucky to register the helicopter at such a distance. This recording will be a gold mine for our understanding of the Martian atmosphere, ”he said.
Divulgação/Nasa
The SuperCam is a set of Nasa remote sensing equipment, and its microphone, which captured the helicopter's noises, in addition to recording the ambient sounds of Mars, also has lasers that spray rocks in order to record the noises caused, which enables studies about the physical properties of the target.
Nasa has published a video where it combines the helicopter images with the captured sounds, which, according to Perseverance's payload development manager, Soren Madsen, is an example of how different tools can complement each other. "In this specific case, the microphone and the video allow us to observe the helicopter as if we were there, and additional information, such as the Doppler shift, confirms the details of the flight path," he said.
Check the link below for the video that combines the images of Ingenuity with the noise of its propellers.
Helicóptero Ingenuity
Divulgação/Nasa
Hyperlinks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
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Gabriela Ramos
Gabriela is the latest addition to the editorial team of our website, having provided us with her solid background in editing, publishing and photography, and her interest and training in aviation history and historiography. His good taste and common sense and great cleverness and sagacity in the selection of themes and materials greatly enriched our vocabulary and narrative style. Gabriela brought unusual predicates and came to stay, helping to point the way of success of our portal.
   
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