xenexian 2 Posted June 4, 2003 Well, another mission to Mars is underway. In seven months the European Space AGency will have two landers on the surface and one in orbit and NASA will have one on the surface as well. This is all well and good provided the Martians don't shoot them down again before it gets there. From my perspective, there is one device missing from all three. It was suppossed to be on the polar lander that disapeared (shot down?) just as it reached the outer atmosphere. The device is a simple microphone. It wouldn't have cost all that much to equip any of the landers with even a Radio Shack mic, for crying out loud. The opportunity to hear another planet would have been the chance of a lifetime for someone like myself. Perhaps sometime in the future, since I don't see myself actually standing on the Red planet, there will come the chance to at least "hear" Mars once before I die. C'mon NASA, radio transmitters for audio waves are cheap. They could have stuck one on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Xeroc 0 Posted June 4, 2003 Well, another mission to Mars is underway. In seven months the European Space AGency will have two landers on the surface and one in orbit and NASA will have one on the surface as well. This is all well and good provided the Martians don't shoot them down again before it gets there. From my perspective, there is one device missing from all three. It was suppossed to be on the polar lander that disapeared (shot down?) just as it reached the outer atmosphere. The device is a simple microphone. It wouldn't have cost all that much to equip any of the landers with even a Radio Shack mic, for crying out loud. The opportunity to hear another planet would have been the chance of a lifetime for someone like myself. Perhaps sometime in the future, since I don't see myself actually standing on the Red planet, there will come the chance to at least "hear" Mars once before I die. C'mon NASA, radio transmitters for audio waves are cheap. They could have stuck one on. I have read about and have heard about this new mission to mars - it looks promising. (and I'm pretty sure martians aren't shooting them down!) Also - I would expect martian sounds to be very boring - probably just a light wind sound. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xenexian 2 Posted June 5, 2003 Also - I would expect martian sounds to be very boring - probably just a light wind sound. Boring to you or not. The point is having an opportunity to hear what could be there. I work with sound and even what you would consider boring, to me is valuable. Wind on Mars, if you could call it that, has already been documented at over three hundred miles per hour. This has been done by tracking the dust storms through radar and observation. Thats over twice as fast as the strongest hurricane on Earth. What would that sound like? Perhaps it could have picked up the sound of the small rocks being blown by the wind or the sound of uneven heating of the surface. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that these would sounds would be from another world. To get a better understanding, I suggest blindfolding yourself and then sit in each room of your home or outside in the evening. Each enviroment has its own unique acoustical signature. You would be surprised at how different and strange our everyday world is if your only sensory input to your brain is your hearing. To me, pictures from Mars are not enough. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yillara Skye 1 Posted June 9, 2003 Yeah, I read about this yesterday in our newspaper. It does look promising. And Lollypop...that cartoon is amusing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Xeroc 0 Posted June 9, 2003 LOL! Of course, in reality that is impossible because they have photographed from space the entire planet! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yillara Skye 1 Posted June 9, 2003 LOL! Of course, in reality that is impossible because they have photographed from space the entire planet! True... I think that it is thatr reason that the cartoon is even funnier for me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cptwright 1 Posted June 14, 2003 i cant beleive that their sending all those landers to mars, after what happened the last couple a times, you think they would just work on one good solid lander to hopefully succeed this time. well i hope they dont get shot down i would love to learn more about mars. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
