Sounds of Mars: NASA's InSight Senses Martian Wind
Transcript
"Touch down confirmed." InSight set down on Mars on November 26. On board the lander is a highly sensitive seismometer meant to study marsquakes.
On December 1 the seismometer recorded vibrations: vibrations caused by Martian wind. The wind was blowing across the lander's solar panels, causing small movements.
The recording of these vibrations is in the audible range of human hearing. The sounds are very low pitch and best heard with headphones and subwoofers.
It's playing now. Don't hear it yet?
At an increased pitch, it is audible on laptops and mobile devices. Audio has been pitched up two octaves.
A second instrument, the air pressure sensor, also recorded the sounds of the winds. APSS data sped up by a factor of 100, shifting it up in frequency 100X. Eventually, mission engineers will move the seismometer off the lander and onto the ground in front of it. There it will gather vibrations coming from deep within the planet to teach us about the interior of Mars.