It seems that NASA engineers have trained the Perseverance rover to become a stronger listener. A series of specialized mics has been mounted by the space agency to capture sounds from Mars as soon as it reaches the Red Planet.
This is part of ongoing research to investigate the capacity of Mars to host human activity theoretically. Samples of Martian rocks and soil have also been obtained and deposited by the 2020 Perseverance Rover during previous flights.
How Perseverance Rover Becomes a Better Listener
According to ABC 7, NASA's Perseverance would land with microphones later next month and capture Mars' atmospheric noises.
But since Mars' environment is much colder and much less compact, experts suggest it sound much more deafening than what we know here if anyone were shouting.
A pair of SuperCam microphones are included in the 2020 Perseverance Rover, scheduled to fly to Jezero Crater on 18 February 2021.
The breakthrough 'amazing' that all the science they would get for an instrument as easy as a microphone on Mars was discovered by Baptiste Chide, a postdoctoral researcher at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
According to Sputnik International, Chide worked on the microphones for 2020 Perseverance Rover. He mounted one above the rover's antenna.
Two goals can be served: research and engineering. First of all, the natural noises that roar through the Martian surface can be registered.
The mast is holding a microphone that can be directed in the path of a possible source of sounds.
Separately, the laser-zapping ChemCam of the Curiosity rover will use an infrared laser beam to heat objects, as its ancestor.
The echo of the laser-blasting them can also be registered for scientists to research the build-up of Martian regolith and other atmospheric characteristics.
The microphone can listen to the mechanical side of the 2020 Perseverance Rover's work, such as how the mast swings or the wheels spin, in terms of the mechanical element, with the latter theoretically acting as a critical diagnostic instrument.
From the Top, Make It Drop
A true "tiny drop" is projected to be the second microphone. It would seek to capture the smallest sounds during the difficult entrance, fall and landing of the mission.
Scientists anticipate it to document pyrotechnic devices to activate the parachute and the Martian weather, only to mention a few sounds.
However, scientists warn that on Mars, the audio carefully recorded by Perseverance does not sound exactly the same as it does here on Earth. The explanation is straightforward: on the surface, the Martian atmosphere is only 1% as thick as the atmosphere of Earth, and its structure is therefore different, affecting sound absorption and transmission naturally.
It is only going to get increasingly necessary to incorporate technologies into potential spacecraft such as Perseverance Rover. As technology progresses and data transfer speeds rise, NASA researchers would have to deal with an ever-increasing knowledge deluge.
But "needle-in-the-haystack" concerns are just the kind of problems that machine learning was built to overcome, where the answer is lost in a vast quest room. And once we have AI-powered explorers exploring the solar system, who knows what we could find?
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