Projects
Planetary Microphones
The Martian hills are alive with the sounds of...what? Wind, sandstorms, lightning? No one yet knows what we may hear or even whether there will be sounds on Mars. The Planetary Society seeks to add sound to the human experience of the exploration of Mars, Titan, Venus, and other places in the solar system, by sending microphones to record the ambient noises. We have already sent a microphone to Mars, unfortunately on a failed spacecraft, and worked with the Huygens mission to return sounds from Titan.
The Planetary Society’s first Mars Microphone flew to Mars onboard NASA's Mars Polar Lander. Although Mars Polar Lander failed, the Mars Microphone was a milestone for The Planetary Society, because it was the first scientific instrument funded by a public interest organization to fly aboard a planetary mission. The Microphone was entirely funded by donations from Planetary Society members. Today, The Planetary Society is once again actively pursuing sending a microphone to Mars. Although at the moment it is not an official part of a future lander mission, it is nevertheless likely that the microphone will make it to the Red Planet within the next few years.
In the meantime, The Planetary Society teamed up with the European Space Agency and the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument team to bring you the sounds recorded by the Huygens probe during its harrowing descent through the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
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