The newly landed NASA Perseverance rover recorded the first ever historic sounds of the Martian landscape with DPA’s 4006 omnidirectional microphone capturing the eerie sounds of a Martian breeze.
The Perseverance rover landed on 18 February 2021, plummeting and rocketing down towards the surface of Mars before touching down in the Jezero Crater. The 4006 microphone survived the rapid descent and recorded the sounds of the desolate crater alongside sounds of the rover trundling across the surface.
DPA’s MMA-A digital audio interface and MMP-G modular active cable were also installed, surviving temperatures as low as-100 degrees Celsius on the Martian surface.
René Mørch, product manager, DPA, commented: “Everything about the mission — from the launch to the landing — is hostile insofar as a microphone is generally concerned. It’s very exciting to know that DPA was able to record something from so many millions of miles away, and have the sound travel back to us so quickly. We are proud to have worked with NASA for such a historic and important mission. To have been able to deliver audio from the surface of Mars is truly a crowning achievement.”
DPA's 4006 microphone attached to the cable bracket aboard the Mars Perseverance Rover.