The Sound of the Meteor Hits Mars [Video]

The InSight spacecraft, which NASA sent to Mars in 2018 to examine the depths of the planet, broke new ground on Mars the other day. The spacecraft has begun detecting seismic and acoustic waves from an asteroid impact for the first time on the Red Planet. In addition, NASA also shared the audio recording of the moment when the meteorite entered the Martian atmosphere, broke up and fell.

In the study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists shared that they found that a total of four space rocks hit Mars. The spacecraft was able to capture the seismic waves of these impacts, thanks to its seismometer. It was determined that the rocks fell 85-290 kilometers from the spacecraft.

The holes drilled by the meteorite on the surface of Mars were also viewed from space:

With the detection of the meteorite falling to Mars, the Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft in Mars orbit was directed over the impact zone. The spacecraft detected three different points on the surface with the ‘Context Camera’ hardware, which obtained black and white images. These points were then focused on with the higher resolution ‘High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment’ camera on the spacecraft. These images were also shared by NASA in the video below, along with the sounds of the impact:

The sound of the meteor falling on Mars (50 seconds for the sound, 85 seconds for the image of the formed craters)

The sound is fine, but why does the explosion sound like something out of a cartoon?

NASA also shared information that explains why the explosion sound is strangely heard only as a ‘blop’:

“After sunset, the atmosphere retains some of the heat accumulated during the day. Sound waves travel at different speeds depending on their frequency in this heated atmosphere. As a result, low-frequency sounds precede high-frequency sounds. An observer close to the impact hears a ‘blast’, while someone miles away hears bass sounds first, which creates a ‘blop’ sound.”