‘Mini Lightning’ Found on Mars After 50 Years of Searching (Source: vecteezy.com)
Scientists say they may have finally found proof of lightning on Mars and the discovery came from listening to the winds swirling around NASA’s Perseverance rover.
A team led by French researchers reported on Wednesday that the rover’s microphone picked up crackling sounds that match electrical discharges. These faint sparks were detected 55 times over the course of two Martian years, mostly during dust devils and dust storms. According to the team, nearly all of the activity happened on the windiest Martian sols, or days, when storms were strongest.
These electrical flashes were extremely small — only a few centimeters across — and occurred within about 2 meters of the rover’s microphone, which is mounted on its tall mast. This device is part of a system used to study Martian rocks with cameras and lasers. The scientists said the sparks, similar to static electricity on Earth, could be heard clearly through the roar of wind and dust particles hitting the microphone.
Lead author Baptiste Chide, from the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse, said researchers have been trying to find lightning on Mars for 50 years. He called the discovery a breakthrough.
“It opens a completely new field of investigation for Mars science,” Chide said, noting that electrical activity could trigger interesting chemical reactions. “It’s like finding a missing piece of the puzzle.”
Daniel Mitchard of Cardiff University, who was not part of the research, said the evidence is “strong and persuasive,” but he also pointed out that the microphone was originally built to capture the rover’s laser shots at rocks not lightning. The team also detected the electrical activity by sound only, not by sight.
“It really is a chance discovery to hear something else going on nearby, and everything points to this being Martian lightning,” Mitchard said in an email. However, he added that until future missions bring new tools to confirm the results, “I think there will still be a debate from some scientists as to whether this really was lightning.”
Lightning is already known to exist on Jupiter and Saturn, and for years scientists have believed Mars might have it as well.
Chide’s team studied 28 hours of audio recordings from Perseverance and identified “mini lightning” using both acoustic and electrical signatures. They found that dust devils produced brief bursts of electrical discharges lasting only seconds. Dust storms, however, created longer activity sometimes up to 30 minutes.
Chide explained the phenomenon by saying, “It’s like a thunderstorm on Earth, but barely visible with a naked eye and with plenty of faint zaps.” Mars’ thin atmosphere, which is rich in carbon dioxide, absorbs much of the sound, making many sparks difficult to hear.
He added that Mars’ environment is more prone to static buildup because dust and sand grains frequently collide, creating electrical charges.
According to Mitchard’s perspective in Nature, “The current evidence suggests it is extremely unlikely that the first person to walk on Mars could, as they plant a flag on the surface, be struck down by a bolt of lightning.” However, he warned that “small and frequent static-like discharges could prove problematic for sensitive equipment.”
This discovery is not the first time Perseverance has delivered audio from Mars. People on Earth have already heard the rover’s wheels crushing the ground and the blades of its former helicopter companion, Ingenuity, slicing through the Martian air.
Since 2021, Perseverance has been exploring an ancient river delta to collect rock samples that might hold signs of long-gone microscopic life. NASA intends to bring these samples back to Earth for analysis, but the plan is currently paused while the agency searches for more affordable mission options.
