NASA has shared the audio recorded by the InSight spacecraft during the moments when a meteorite fell on Mars. In October, the damage caused by the meteorite on the Martian surface was also imaged.
The InSight spacecraft, which NASA sent to Mars in 2018 to study the depths of the planet, recently broke ground on Mars. For the first time, the spacecraft began to detect seismic and acoustic waves caused by the impact of a meteorite on the Red Planet. However, NASA also shared an audio recording of the moment the meteorite entered the Martian atmosphere, disintegrated and fell.
In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience on the subject, scientists shared their discovery that a total of four space rocks crashed into Mars. The spacecraft was able to capture the seismic waves of these impacts thanks to the seismometer on board. It was determined that the rocks fell 85 – 290 kilometers from the spacecraft.
The holes made by the meteorite on the surface of Mars were also viewed from space:
When the meteorite falling on Mars was detected, the Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft orbiting Mars was guided over the impact zone. The spacecraft obtained a black and white image by detecting three different spots formed on the surface with the ‘Context Camera’ hardware.
These points were then focused with the higher resolution ‘High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment’ camera on the spacecraft. These images, along with the sounds of the moment of impact, were also shared by NASA in the video below:
The sound of the moment when the celestial stone falls on Mars (for Volume 50. seconds, 85 for the image of the formed craters. second)
So, why does the explosion sound like something out of a cartoon?
NASA also shared information explaining why the sound of the explosion was strangely only heard as a ‘blop’.:
“After sunset, the atmosphere retains some of the heat accumulated during the day. Sound waves travel at different speeds in this heated atmosphere, depending on their frequency. As a result, low-frequency sounds precede high-frequency sounds. An observer close to the impact hears a “bang”, while someone many kilometers away hears bass sounds first, which creates a “blop” sound.”
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