Perseverance Hears Electric Discharges in Martian Dust Storms

New evidence from NASA, published in the journal Nature, shows that the Martian surface might be even less hospitable than previously believed. The Perseverance rover has recorded the telltale signatures of electric discharges within Martian dust storms, which could have major implications for future missions.

When it arrived at Mars in 2021, Perseverance carried the third-ever human microphone to an alien world. The first two had been duds, brought to Mars in 1998 by the Mars Polar Lander and in 2007 by the Phoenix lander, only to prove incapable of recording sounds.

Perseverance, on the other hand, finally managed to record and transmit sound waves in the atmosphere of Mars. That's not easy, since the "air" on the Red Planet is less than a percentage point as thick as that on Earth, but it is possible.

NASA proved this when it published the first-ever audio recording from Mars. This ...