Watch and Listen As Phoenix Descended to Mars
The folks at the European Space Agency have posted a video and sound files made from data recorded on board Mars Express as the Phoenix lander made its way to the Martian surface.
The animation shows the signal of Phoenix’s descent. The spike in the animation, between frequencies of 7 and 8 kiloHertz, shows the transmission from Phoenix itself. The lander’s signal can be seen in the animation starting from about 342 seconds after the start time and disappears at about 1085 s. This shows Mars Express picking up on the Phoenix signal and tracking it while closing in on the lander; the closest Mars Express got to Phoenix was 1,550 kilometers.
As Mars Express flew away, the lander deployed its parachute, separated from it and landed, the signal from the lander was cut off. The shift of the spike seen in the animation, is due to the so-called Doppler effect, which is very similar to what we hear when listening to the whistle of a passing train.
You can hear a sound file of the descent and landing on the same page linked above (warning: if you have tinnitus, turn your speakers down to a lower volume). The image below is from the Mars Reconnaissance HiRise imager.
