Out of this world sounds from other planets have been created using state of the art computer software. and the new technology could help in the search for alien life, say scientists.
British researcher Professor Timothy Leighton, 59, designed a programme that produces extraterrestrial environmental sounds - and even predicts how human voices might change in distant worlds.
Leighton, Professor of Ultrasonics and Underwater Acoustics at the University of Southampton, said: “For decades, we have sent cameras to other planets in our solar system and learned a great deal from them.
"However, we never really heard what another planet sounded like until the very recent Mars Perseverance mission."
He said scientists can harness sound on other worlds to learn about properties that might otherwise require a lot of expensive equipment, such as the chemical composition of rocks, how atmospheric temperature changes, or the roughness of the ground.
Prof Leighton says extraterrestrial sounds could also be used in the search for alien life.
He explained that, at first glance, Jupiter’s moon Europa may seem a hostile environment, but below its shell of ice lies a potentially life-sustaining ocean.
Prof Leighton said: “The idea of sending a probe on a seven-year trip through space, then drilling or melting to the seabed, poses mind-boggling challenges in terms of finance and technology.
"The ocean on Europa is 100 times deeper than Earth's Arctic Ocean, and the ice cap is roughly 1,000 times thicker.
“However, instead of sending a physical probe, we could let sound waves travel to the seabed and back and do our exploring for us.”
He said planets’ unique atmospheres impact sound speed and absorption. For example, the thin, carbon dioxide-rich Martian atmosphere absorbs more sound than Earth’s, so distant noises appear fainter.
Prof Leighton said: "Anticipating how sound travels is important for designing and calibrating equipment like microphones and speakers."
He said: "Hearing the sound from other planets is beneficial not just for scientific purposes, but also for entertainment.
"Science fiction films contain vivid imagery to mimic the look of other worlds but often lack the immersive quality of how those worlds would sound."
Prof Leighton is due to demonstrate his work at the annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Chicago.
The presentation is part of a special session bringing together the acoustics and planetary science communities.
Acoustical studies became essential during the Huygens lander’s descent into Titan’s atmosphere in 2005 and in the more recent Mars InSight and Mars 2020 missions.
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Those successful missions carried customised acoustic sensors operating over a wide spectrum, from very low frequencies - infrasound, below the human hearing threshold - to ultrasound above human hearing.
Prof Leighton’s software will showcase predictions of the sounds of other worlds at planetariums and museums.
In the case of Mars, it will include actual sounds thanks to the US/European Perseverance team and China’s Zhurong mission.
