NASA Perseverance rover captures sounds of it driving around Mars

New Delhi: NASA's rover to the Mars has sent back an audio file containing sounds of the Perseverance driving on the Red Planet. This is the first such audio recorded of any vehicle driving around in Mars.

The 16-minute raw audio feed is grinding, clanking, banging affair worry people back on Earth.

"If I heard these sounds driving my car, I'd pull over and call for a tow. But if you take a minute to consider what you're hearing and where it was recorded, it makes perfect sense," Dave Gruel, an engineer on the rover team, said in a written NASA statement. 

Though, the NASA engineers are trying to figure out a unexpected high-pitched scratching noise recorded in the driving audio.  

Listen here:

Hear that? That’s the sound of me driving over Martian rocks. This is the first time we’ve captured sounds while driving on Mars.

Read full story: https://t.co/oqdnCJShjm pic.twitter.com/yKwypUSnE7 — NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) March 17, 2021

On Wednesday, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California released the 16-minute raw audio feed of the rover's six metal wheels and suspension on the very first test drive which took place two weeks ago. 

Perseverance is on the Red Planet searching for signs of past life, it will collect samples from the most promising rocks and bring it back to Earth. 

The rover carries two microphones. One already has captured the sounds of wind and rock-zapping lasers, the other was meant to record the descent and landing. This second mike didn't pick up any sounds of the rover's arrival at Mars, but managed to record the first test drive March 4.

The Perseverance is the biggest, most advanced rover ever sent to Mars.