How sound moves on Mars

(Press-News.org) HONOLULU, Dec. 4, 2025 — Acoustic signals have been important markers during NASA’s Mars missions. Measurements of sound can provide information both about Mars itself — such as turbulence in its atmosphere, changes in its temperature, and its surface conditions — and about the movement of the Mars rovers.

Using these sound measurements to the best extent possible requires an accurate understanding of how sound propagates on Mars. Charlie Zheng, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Utah State University, and his doctoral student Hayden Baird, who is partially sponsored by the Utah Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellowship, will present their work simulating sound propagation on Mars Thursday, Dec. 4, at 8:25 a.m. HST as part of the Sixth Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and Acoustical Society of Japan, running Dec. 1-5 in in Honolulu, Hawaii.

“We expect that the study will provide deeper insight into weather and terrain effects on acoustic propagation in environments that are not easily measured,” said Zheng. “The Martian environment is obviously one of them.”

Baird and Zheng’s work uses NASA’s measurements of the atmospheric conditions and terrain on Mars, most of which have been previously modeled at meter-scale resolutions. They also had access to decades of data about the red planet’s atmospheric composition and properties, as well as seismic studies that measure the ground porosity — all factors that play into how sound propagates.

“The setup of the simulation model used in this study relies heavily on previous results from multiple scientific disciplines,” said Baird.

Focusing on the Jezero crater, the 2021 landing and exploration site of NASA’s Perseverance rover and its attached Ingenuity helicopter, the researchers simulated how sound moves through and scatters off the region’s complex terrains, whether it comes from a moving or stationary source. This will help them understand how other atmospheres compare to our own.

The researchers hope their model will help identify signals and patterns that indicate specific Martian atmospheric events. In the longer term, it may even help with sensor designs for future missions to other planets or moons to study atmospheric conditions.

“This study is a beginning to dive into many potential areas of planetary research,” said Zheng.

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ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The Acoustical Society of America is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN

ASJ publishes a monthly journal in Japanese, the Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan, as well as a bimonthly journal in English, Acoustical Science and Technology, which is available online at no cost https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/ast. These journals include technical papers and review papers. Special issues are occasionally organized and published. The Society also publishes textbooks and reference books to promote acoustics associated with various topics. See https://acoustics.jp/en/.

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