Listen to The Eerie Noise of China’s Mars Rover as It Sets Off to Explore – ScienceAlert

China has released video and sound clips from its rover exploring the surface of Mars.

The files were published by China National Space Agencyon Sunday.

The sound is of the Zhurong roverleaving its lander before taking its first ridein May, and can be heard in the video below.

The eerie noises are made by the rover moving on the rack, said Jia Yand, deputy chief designer of the Mars rover project

The sound is somewhat muffled, and doesn't quite sound like what could be expected on Earth.

It could provide clues about the environment and conditions on Mars, including figuring out the density of the atmosphere, according to Jizhong, deputy commander of the exploration program.

Liu said its main purpose is to listen to the wind.

This is not the first sound recording to come back from Mars.

NASA's Perseverance rover, which landed about a month before Zhurong, sent backits first audio recording in February.

Since then, NASA has released more sounds from Mars, includingthe sounds of the rover driving aroundandof its laser firing at rocks.

Since it landedin May,the rover has moved 236 meters (about 774 ft), CNSA said.

A video shows a 360 degree view caught by the rover's onboard camera. Its tracks lead to the lander which can be seen in the distance.

The full 360-degree panoramacan be seen here.

Another video, below, shows the rover backing away from a camera that it dumped it on the groundto take a selfie with its lander platform. It can be seen rotating in place, showing that it is in good working condition,the China National Space Agency (CNSA) said.

One last video released on Sunday shows the rover's landing in May, including the deployment of its parachute and the moment it touched down.

The rover is expected to remain active around another 48 days.

During its mission, it is meant to be analyzing the chemical make-up of Martian soil and looking for signs of water on the Utopia Planitia region where it landed,Insider's Aylin Woodward reported on May 22.

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

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Listen to The Eerie Noise of China's Mars Rover as It Sets Off to Explore - ScienceAlert