NASA’s Perseverance records the sound of its first space laser instrument

Scientists behind NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover managed to capture audio clips of laser blasts on another planet for the first time using their SuperCam instrument, according to a report by Sci-News.com. The team managing Perseverance released audio files that were captured by the SuperCam, and the first file captured the faint sounds of the wind on Mars. Last month, Perseverance landed safely on Mars to search for traces of life on the red planet. The SuperCam itself is made up of a camera, a microphone, and three spectrometers.

“The sounds acquired are of remarkable quality,” said Dr. Naomi Murdoch, research scientist and professor at the ISAE-SUPAERO School of Aerospace Engineering.

The purpose of SuperCam is to analyze the chemical composition of rocks by firing a laser at them and looking for organic compounds that may be related to past life on Mars.

Speaking of space lasers, they have been unusually in the headlines recently, as controversial Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was reported last January to make a statement blaming the deadly wildfires on “Jewish space lasers.” Since then, many Democrats have tried to oust Greene from Congress due to his social media posts and frequent promotion of conspiracy theories.

Ben Sales contributed to this report.