Mars Rover adventure! Take a long-distance journey over a smooth-ish Martian terrain with a lovable Mars Rover. This week’s episode uses some real Martian Rover sounds (and some simulated) with wind, static, and interplanetary drift. Whether you're studying, working, reading, sleeping, or unwinding after a long day, this immersive ambient soundscape provides the perfect background soundtrack. No talking, no interruptions—just red planet vibes. Ignore the World.
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For this week’s episode, we will (fictionally) tap into the microphones of a Mars Rover and listen in as it takes a long journey across the surface of the planet named after the Roman god of war. And I can tell by that wind-up that this episode description is going to get daff. Save yourselves.
Ooph, before I continue, I know I have been going on and on about renaming myself Mr. Ambience the last two weeks—I did rename myself Mr. Ambience, much to my wife’s chagrin. Then I did a search for “Mr. Ambience,” and some person has already staked out that name… Which will make my wife laugh because she thought the name was ridiculous.
I thought maybe I could try “Not Mr. Ambience,” but that reads agro to my ears. Dr. Ambience would be great… unfortunately, I am not a doctor. I did assist a professor once by helping them move into a new apartment—does Assistant Professor Ambience sound feasible? I should workshop this offline—
Because the fabulously windy and otherworldly red surface calls to us. So we must rove. It’ll be the great American road movie, just not a film and not in America or on the planet.
Look, I (conveniently) chose fictionalized Mars Rover movements. This allows me to play with sounds that would be inaudible on the surface of Mars (at least distant sounds, more below) and add boops and beeps (because people love that ****). It also allows me to do something more fun with the metal wheels. You can hear them in the Perseverance Rover driving highlights from NASA (imagine rocks rolling in lobster pots).
I included the actual Mars Rover sounds (NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/ISAE-SUPAERO) in this ambient construction, but they are mostly dialed back.
I want to mention that sound works differently on Mars because of a range of factors. And you shouldn’t trust me to be right about that; I was a communication major.
Ambient audio on Mars behaves differently because of the planet's extremely thin, cold atmosphere and its composition. Lower frequencies travel farther, while high frequencies dissipate more quickly.
I point this out so you know I held this reality while designing this week’s episode, and (thoughtfully) breached the ****. I don’t know why I feel like Carl Sagan would want to get me for being wrong. Honestly, whenever I’m talking about space with my kids, in the back of my mind Carl Sagan is disapproving. Look at me mentioning Carl Sagan more in this week’s episode than our episode about the Golden Records (shout out to Carl Sagan).
…And so, to deflect from my uncomfortability with trying to explain science in the first place—I am now definitively saying that low frequency is KING on Mars. For the Elysium Planitia music festival I’m planning [airhorn], there will be no Captain & Tennille or Jeffrey Osborne (bc no one would hear anything).
So... introducing the 2027 Elysium Bass Festival (we’ll be using influencers but not Ja Rule): 95 South, the Quad City DJs, and DJ Magic Mike is the headliner.
Episode cover includes an image from NASA.
