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Measurements of sound propagation in Mars' lower atmosphere

Journal Article · · Earth and Planetary Science Letters
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [8];  [1];  [9];  [10];  [10];  [5];  [8];  [8];  [11];  [12];  [12] more »;  [12];  [13];  [1];  [5];  [14];  [15];  [9];  [16];  [16];  [15] « less
  1. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Univ. of Toulouse (France); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (France)
  3. Univ. of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA (United States)
  4. Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States)
  5. Institut de Recherches en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), Toulouse (France)
  6. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin (Germany)
  7. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
  8. Univ. of Toulouse (France)
  9. Sorbonne Univ., Paris (France); Univ. of Paris (France); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (France)
  10. Univ. of Southampton (United Kingdom)
  11. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Lab. (JPL)
  12. Escuela de Ingeniería de Bilbao (Spain)
  13. Universities Space Research Association, Houston, TX (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
  14. Aeolis Research, Chandler, AZ (United States)
  15. Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), Madrid (Spain)
  16. Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki (Finland)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Acoustics has become extraterrestrial and Mars provides a new natural laboratory for testing sound propagation models compared to those ones on Earth. Owing to the unique combination of a microphone and two sound sources, the Ingenuity helicopter and the SuperCam laser-induced sparks, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover payload enables the in situ characterization of unique sound propagation properties of the low-pressure CO2-dominated Mars atmosphere. In this study, we show that atmospheric turbulence is responsible for a large variability in the sound amplitudes from laser-induced sparks. This variability follows the diurnal pattern of turbulence. In addition, acoustic measurements acquired over one Martian year reveal a variation of the sound intensity by a factor of 1.8 from a constant source due to the seasonal cycle of pressure and temperature that significantly modifies the acoustic impedance and shock-wave formation. Finally, we show that the evolution of the Ingenuity tones and laser spark amplitudes with distance is consistent with one of the existing sound absorption models, which is a key parameter for numerical simulations applied to geophysical experiments on CO2-rich atmospheres. Overall, these results demonstrate the potential of sound propagation to interrogate the Mars environment and will therefore help in the design of future acoustic-based experiments for Mars or other planetary atmospheres such as Venus and Titan.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001
OSTI ID:
2523976
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--25-21520
Journal Information:
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Journal Name: Earth and Planetary Science Letters Vol. 615; ISSN 0012-821X
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Mars
Mars 2020
Perseverance rover
SuperCam microphone
acoustics
atmosphere
sound propagation
turbulence