NASA records sound of ‘dust devil’ on Mars

The sound of a ‘dust devil’ on Mars has been recorded for the first time by NASA’s Perseverance when a short whirlwind swept over the rover.

Researchers believe that the recording will help to gain more information about climate behavior on Mars, including how the atmosphere of the red planet could possibly support life.

Although dust devils and dust storms are very common on Mars, NASA’s rover has captured it for the first time on its microphone.
The rover’s audio recording device is turned on only occasionally, leading to estimates that such events might be recorded just around 0.5 percent of the time. Wind speeds in the walls of the dust devil reached nearly 40kmph as with the last whirlwinds observed by other instruments, this early morning dust whirl caused a slight drop in atmospheric pressure and rise in temperature as it swept over the rover on September 27, 2021. It was 25 meters in diameter, at least 118 meters tall, and ambled by at about 20 kilometers per hour.