Ready for alien soundtracks? - new Mars rover carries a microphone

Perseverance, the largest, most advanced rover NASA has sent to another world, touched down on Mars Thursday, carrying for the first time a small microphone that will have recorded the sounds of the descent and the martian environment itself. NASA doesn't really make audio-recordings - “in the space business we don't do a lot with microphones and sound, since most of our research is done in a vacuum”, so the microphone was designed by Jason Achilles Mezilis, a Los Angeles–based rock musician, composer, and lifelong space enthusiast. The mic is scientifically focused, and it sits in an instrument called SuperCam to help study what happens to rocks when they get zapped with a laser. It could also record ambient sound. Wired brings the amazing story.