Scientists have revealed that Mars has a strange speed of sound which could have different consequences in future communications of martians on the planent. Using different kinds of equipment, the scientists discovered that while trying to talk on Mars, the atmosphere on the planet will produce a weird effect as high-pitched sounds travel faster than bass notes.

At the 53rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference by Baptiste Chide of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, these findings were revealed to all scientists present, explaining that high-temperature fluctuations on Mars could be the reason, and needs to be investigated. The speed of sound can be affected by density and temperature of the medium through which it travels. The denser the medium is, the faster the sound will travel.

Mar’s atmosphere in comparision to Earth’s is much more tenuous, around 0.020 kg/m³ on Mars with 1.2 kg/m³ for Earth. Moreover, on Mars, the surface during the day produces convective updrafts that create strong turbulences. Scientists used unique microphones to hear sounds of Mars and a laser that produced timed noise, while the SuperCam microphone was used to record acoustic pressure fluctuations from the rover’s breakdown spectroscopy instrument, which extracted rock and soil samples from Mars.

The team of scientists measured the time between the laser firing and the sound that was reaching the SuperCam microphone at 2.1 meters altitude. This was used to measure the speed of sound on the surface of Mars.

One of the researchers wrote in their conference paper that, “The speed of sound retrieved by this technique is computed over the entire acoustic propagation path, which goes from the ground to the height of the microphone. Therefore, at any given wavelength it is convoluted by the variations of temperature and wind speed and direction along this path.”

The results of the research and investigation showed that the speed of sound on Mars propogated through the environment at roughly 240 metres per second. One of the reaserchers attributed the results to carbon dioxide molecules at low pressure. With a frequency of 240 Hertz the vibrational modes of carbon dioxide molecules dont relax, resulting in sound that travelling at more than 10 meters per second faster at higher frequencies. This has been called by scientists as “unique listening experience” as high-pitched sound travels faster than low ones.