Hear the First-Ever Audio from Mars!

While numerous missions have returned photos from Mars, none have captured any sound from the Red Planet million of miles away.

A few missions had planned to capture some sound from Mars, but it never happened. In 1999, the Polar Lander crashed on the surface of the Red Planet. In 2008, the Netlander mission was canceled due to funding difficulties. Also, in 2008, the Phoenix Lander’s microphone was never activated after engineers detected a potential electronics problem in the that might affect other systems, and the mic was deactivated.

Perseverance has two microphones on board. One recorded the sounds of bursting through the Martian atmosphere and landing on the surface, and another is attached to Supercam – which will examine rocks and soil with a camera and laser. The Supercam microphone will listen as the rover’s laser blasts rocks. Hopefully it will also capture the howling of Martian winds, sandstorms, and even dust devils.

"Percy" landed on the 28-mile wide Jezero Crater. It’s believed that this crater at one time contained a deep lake about the size of Lake Tahoe. The rover also has a total of 19 cameras attached to its body.