The Mars Microphone

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Original MPL Design

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NETLANDER DESIGN

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Netlander Design

Design Concept for the French Netlander Mission

For the French NetLander mission, the Mars Microphone was designed to be integrated into the PanCam instrument being built by the German space agency (DLR).

Unfortunately, the Netlander mission was cancelled. However, this design exercise brought about numerous improvements to the Mars Microphone instrument, including:

  • Addition of a second microphone for stereo sound

  • Increase onboard data storage by ten-fold

  • Direct interface to lander computer for triggering lander instruments during sound-emitting events such as dust-devils, storms

  • Record instrument deployments and movements

  • Log acoustic data during entry, descent and landing
Diagram of microphone position on PanCam

Mounting one microphone on each side of the PanCam head is currently being explored; such a configuration would allow for a 3-D sound reproduction of the acoustic environment and facilitate sound monitoring ~1m above the surface.

The Mars Surface
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