I know “Uptown Funk” gets the most recognition but as far as the sounds of Mars go I always enjoyed Bruno’s earlier Reggae period.
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I hate to admit I agree with you. People who aren’t interested in growing groceries in Antarctica, also aren’t deeply interested in stepping foot on Mars either. Its a fad, like those O’Neil colonies of the 70’s
You might pick out the odd meteor strike as well.
We may be witnessing a fad but long term it seems like we should be establishing ourselves there (and elsewhere in the solar system). Sure we don’t need to rush humans there but collecting as much data as we can before we do go seems prudent.
At least now we know to bring wind chimes when we go.
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It sounds like the record is stuck.
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Arthur C. Clarke’s Imperial Earth has a bit where Duncan dials a random infonet number and connects with a microphone, probably on the surface of Titan.
That’s the first thing I think of when the subject of probes with microphones comes up.
But it has a CD with my name on it, on Mars!
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Its a hydrosaurus on the rampage.
But this recording sounds more like the movement of the probe as it is being buffeted by the wind, rather than what a microphone would hear.
Imperial Earth was right at the peak of Clarke’s career, along with The Fountains of Paradise. His futurism was at its best, right then. There is so much insightful stuff hidden away in there like how it is so difficult to find purely white or black people for historical reenactments, or the immediate assumption that the “door man” for a building would obviously be software.
William Gibson’s novel The Peripheral, is similar in that the author is doing futurism without saying “this is a book about future people only doing future stuff”.
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Sound recordists don’t just stick microphones into the wind; they find an object like a tree that the wind interacts with. When we hear sound it’s mostly the sound of the wind on our outer ears, not the wind on the eardrums themselves. So to really hear the wind on mars, given that there are apparently no trees on mars, you would need to kill a martian and stick a mic into his or her ear.
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or the lingering aroma of a frightened astronaut’s pants
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That reminds me of the bizarre sound design choices in Michael Cimino’s film Heaven’s Gate - sitting in the theatre listening to that whole opening sequence out on the plains was like having my ears continuously whipped with a wet beach towel. Some people may pay big money for such an experience but for an average night out at the cinema it was more than I wanted from the usual stale popcorn and sticky floor extravaganza I was used to. All that money - and they couldn’t afford a fluffier microphone sock. Damn.
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The wind dynamics are pretty cool As fast as the winds are going, it only has as much force as maybe a 10mph wind at earth sea level. Which makes me wonder what the blades would look like for a mars-optimized windmill.
As for setting up a second human outpost on mars for survival purposes, that only makes sense if the existential threat comes from outside the human species. If we are killing ourselves on earth, then we will also be killing ourselves on Mars.
I think we will eventually learn to stop killing ourselves on this planet, and its only then that it would be ethically sound to make a play for the red planet.
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Sure, fair enough. No point in going to Mars if we’re going to bring all our nasty baggage with us. I always joke that I can’t wait till we move to Mars so we no longer have to deal with incompatible units of measure or worry about 50/60 HZ AC or PAL vs NTSC.
But yes, I was thinking mainly of a big rock hitting this planet and ruining our plans.
On the other hand, people living on Mars would learn quickly to treat the environment with respect and not take selfish shortcuts by sweeping it under the rug, spilling it into the air, or dumping it in the stream, nor tolerating anyone who did.
Once they’ve learned that, they’d be ready to recolonize Earth.
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Yikes! I think you’ve just sketched out the premise for a science fiction novel!
On the plus side, there are no streams to pollute on Mars, and barely any atmosphere.
It approaches the question of Martian aerodynamics from the opposite side; but I’ve always had a soft spot for This exercise in X Plane.
It would appear that martian aviation is the valhalla of the mass vs. weight pedants; the place where that distinction finds all kinds of neat ways to matter, hard.
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Can Xplane simulate blimps and dirigibles? 'Cause with a CO2 atmosphre, hydrogen as a lifting gas would be back on the table, and the whole Space:1889 aesthetic can come into play.
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