News Planetary Science

Mars has two speeds of sound

Its speed depends on whether the sound is high-pitched or low-pitched

photo of NASA's Perseverance rover next to the Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars

The SuperCam instrument (upper right) on NASA’s Perseverance rover includes a microphone, which picked up sounds from the instrument’s laser and from the whirling blades on the Ingenuity helicopter (left).

JPL-Caltech/NASA, MSSS

By Liz Kruesi

On Mars, the speed of sound depends on its pitch.

All sound travels slower through Mars’ air compared with Earth’s. But the higher-pitched clacks of a laser zapping rocks travels slightly faster in the thin Martian atmosphere than the lower-pitched hum of the Ingenuity helicopter, researchers report April 1 in Nature.