Published: 7:39am, 27 Nov 2025Updated: 7:47am, 27 Nov 2025
Scientists have detected what they believe to be lightning on Mars by eavesdropping on the whirling wind recorded by Nasa’s Perseverance rover.
The crackling of electrical discharges was captured by a microphone on the rover, a French-led team reported Wednesday.
The researchers documented 55 instances of what they call “mini lightning” over two Martian years, primarily during dust storms and dust devils. Almost all occurred on the windiest Martian sols, or days, during dust storms and dust devils.
Advertisement
Just centimetres (inches) in size, the electrical arcs occurred within two metres (six feet) of the microphone perched atop the rover’s tall mast, part of a system for examining Martian rocks via camera and lasers.
Sparks from the electrical discharges – akin to static electricity here on Earth –are clearly audible amid the noisy wind gusts and dust particles smacking the microphone.
03:06
Babies on Mars? Dutch firm conducts space sex research
Babies on Mars? Dutch firm conducts space sex research
Scientists have been looking for electrical activity and lightning at Mars for half a century, said the study’s lead author Baptiste Chide, of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse.