We're going to record sound on Mars. It'll be eerie.

Should all go as planned, NASA's car-sized Perseverance rover will plummet through the Martian atmosphere in February 2021, reaching speeds of over 13,000 mph. After landing, NASA engineers will instruct the rover to raise its tall mast, on top of which, among some critical exploration instruments, is a microphone.  The rover's launch is now imminent, as the window for blasting into space opens up on July 30. Upon arriving at Mars, the robot's primary mission is to scour the Jezero Crater (an ancient lakebed)  for signs of past microbial life, while also gathering soil and rocks for a later mission to shuttle back to Earth. And as the rover rumbles over Mars' terrain, it will record eerie, extraterrestrial sounds — a true rarity in space exploration. Read more...More about Space, Mars, Science, and Space