Lightning on Mars? Scientists believe they have detected its crackling sounds on the red planet

Scientists have discovered what they believe to be lightning About each other with eavesdropping in a gusty wind recorded by NASA’s Pervereance Rover.

The crack of the electrical discharge was captured by a microphone on the rover, the French-led team reported on Wednesday.

The researchers recorded 55 cases of “mini mini” lightning in two Martian years, mainly during dust storms and dust demons. Almost everything happened on the Martian front seats, or days, during dust storms and dust demons.

Just centimeters in size, the electrical arcs appeared within 6 meters of the microphone arranged in the long avop of Roverop, part of the program to examine the Martian rocks with a camera and lasers. Sparks from electric jets – a or static electricity here on earth – can be clearly heard in the midst of the noisy atmosphere and dust particles hitting the microphone.

Scientists have been looking for electrical and lightning activity on Mars for half a century, said lead author Baptiste, of the Institute for Cuveloogy in Toulouse.

“It opens up a new field of investigation for Mars Science,” Chide said, pointing out the possible chemical effects from the electric current. “It’s like finding a missing piece of a puzzle.”

The evidence is strong and convincing, but it is based on the same instrument that was intended to record the stones of the Rover Moreover, he noted in the article accompanying the study in the natural gene, an electrical discharge was heard – not seen.

“It’s an opportunity to hear something happening nearby, and everything points to this being Martian lightning,” Mitchard said. But until new instruments are sent to confirm the findings, “I think you’re still going to have some debate from other scientists about whether this was really lightning,” he said.

“Like thunder on earth, but invisible to the naked eye”

Lightning has already been confirmed on Jupiter and Saturn, and Mars has long been suspected as well.

To find it, Chide and his team analyzed 28 hours of persistent recordings, recorded episodes of “Mini Lightning” based on acoustic and gas signals.

Electric discharges created by fast-moving dust demons lasted for a few seconds, while those burning dust storms lasted for 30 minutes.

“It’s like a thunderstorm on Earth, but it’s invisible to the naked eye and has many weak spots,” Chide said in an email. He noted that the thin, liquid-rich martian atmosphere absorbs a lot of noise, making other planets appear empty.

Mars’ atmosphere is more prone than Earth’s to clean electricity and glow through interactions between dust and sand, according to Chide.

“Current evidence shows that it is highly unlikely that the first man to walk on Mars could, as he planted a lightning bolt,” Mitchard said. But a small, grass-like discharge like normal can prove to be a serious mechanical problem. “

These are not the first sounds of Mars to be transmitted through endurance. Earthlings listen to the Rover’s wheels crack over the Martian Surface and the whirring blades of his helicopter, intelligence.

Persistence has been hitting the Dryta river on Mars since 2021, collecting rock samples for possible signs of ancient life on giant objects. NASA plans to bring these important structures back to Earth for lab analysis, but delivery to Eternity is on hold as the Space Agency pursues cheaper options.

Blue Blue’s Blue’s Blue and Gold Nasa Satellites on the way to study Mars

Earlier this month, The blue background started Its second heavy-duty Flenn Rocket put two Nasa satellites on a long, suspicious course to Mars. The satellites aim to learn more about how the sun has slowly hit the red planet.

The NASA-Sponsored Payload, managed by the University of California, Berkeley Space Sciences, consists of two small, low satellites called Blue and Gold that form the heart of the Escapade Mission – Escape, the acceleration of Plasma and Dynamics Explorers. The Mars Lault Windows are usually opened every two years when the earth and the red planet reach the best positions in their orbits to allow direct flights using the rockets currently available. The next such window opens in 2026.

Passing within 600 miles of Earth in November 2027, the unmanned Escapade will develop gravity-assisted flybys, and even be introduced by the Mars rover. In total, the twin spacecraft will spend an entire year in that orbit around the moon and back, and another 10 months to travel to Mars. The Consses will not reach the red planet until September 2027.

While the Escapade Mission is modest compared to the Mars Rovers and Orbitals Orbitters, the Consses are designed to answer important questions about the evolution of the Martian atmosphere.

Mars once had a global magnetic field similar to Earth, but its molten core, which had that strong field, is mostly present in a distributed region, leaving only distant remnants of the deposited field.

Apart from the earth’s field that protects the whole planet, the Martian atmosphere is faced with the exertion of high electrons and proteins that explode away from the sun and in dense clouds that face charged particles that explode in powerful solar storms.

William Hardwood contributed to this report.