SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

A technical question for all the professional or amateur scientists here: if a spaceship sends a probe to a planet, is there any plausible reason that it would transmit data like chemical composition, etc., plus a visual feed, but no audio? Or would any probe that provided a visual feed probably provide audio as well?

I imagine that these probes are extremely limited in the amount of power they can generate to record images and/or sound, and I'd also imagine that there are limitations in how much data they can send back.

Audio strikes me as something that wouldn't be as interesting to scientists as other data, so they probably wouldn't go out of their way to include it.

It's certainly possible, I just don't know how practical it would be.

But isn't it always radio waves that scientists are on the look out for? Isn't that what SETI is? Of course, I don't recall any audio with the data sent back from Mars. I think ideally it would be both audio and visual.

I'll just leave this here:

http://www.acoustics.org/press/153rd/...

Why not check out this: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/

This is the site for the Mars Rovers.

I enjoyed both those links. Just out of curiosity, the mars one didn't mention audio in it's list of equipment. So no sound on mars?

@Karen: For your original question, if I was sending out a probe from a spaceship, I would certainly want audio as well as visual. :)

Caron wrote: "I enjoyed both those links. Just out of curiosity, the mars one didn't mention audio in it's list of equipment. So no sound on mars?

@Karen: For your original question, if I was sending out a prob..."

In all honesty...I have to admit that this question kinda smacks of "someone else do my homework for me because I can't be arsed to do it myself." And I say that because:

1) It does feel that way

and 2) different environs affect & distort sound differently. There are too many variables that are unknown.

If you are writing a SF book...it's kinda your call. You just have to come up with plausible tech to match the actions.

Re MrsJoseph's response: if doing the homework involves studying acoustics, aerospace technology, information science, and who knows what else for decades, I'm afraid I don't have the time. Seems reasonable to me to ask if anyone else already has that background. If you ever need an attorney's perspective for a question in a WIP, I won't require you to go to law school -- you can ask me (though I may or may not know the answer).

MrsJoseph wrote: "Caron wrote: "I enjoyed both those links. Just out of curiosity, the mars one didn't mention audio in it's list of equipment. So no sound on mars?

@Karen: For your original question, if I was send..."

Karen wrote: "Re MrsJoseph's response: if doing the homework involves studying acoustics, aerospace technology, information science, and who knows what else for decades, I'm afraid I don't have the time. Seems reasonable to me to ask if anyone else already has that background. If you ever need an attorney's perspective for a question in a WIP, I won't require you to go to law school -- you can ask me (though I may or may not know the answer)."

Seriously?? The way you do your homework for hard sci-fi WIPs is to ask random groups of people on GR? That's just atrocious.

OK, I'll bite one more time. Feel free to have the last word after this.

My WIP is not really hard sci-fi, but I try to be reasonably accurate on scientific points. I posted my question in groups for sci-fi authors, which is not an entirely random sample. And I assess the answers based on how knowledgeable those responding seem to be.

MrsJoseph wrote: "Karen wrote: "Re MrsJoseph's response: if doing the homework involves studying acoustics, aerospace technology, information science, and who knows what else for decades, I'm afraid I don't have the..."

It doesn't take a degree to suss out the fact that an audio feed would provide nothing that would be needed when studying an alien planet that couldn't be discerned more easily by other means.

Unless you're going to make a "nature sounds from an alien world" cd compilation...

Ala wrote: "It doesn't take a degree to suss out the fact that an audio feed would provide nothing that would be needed when studying an alien planet that couldn't be discerned more easily by other means.

Un..."

OTOH, the link I provided upthread shows historical precedent, in that real world space probes landing on bodies here in our Solar System have been equipped with acoustic sensors for purposes other than making a "nature sounds from an alien world cd".

Karen wrote: "OK, I'll bite one more time. Feel free to have the last word after this.

My WIP is not really hard sci-fi, but I try to be reasonably accurate on scientific points. I posted my question in groups ..."

*nods* Because that way you're sure that you're getting correct answers, especially since the internets never lie or misrepresent itself.

Jaime wrote: "OTOH, the link I provided upthread shows historical precedent, in that real world space probes landing on bodies here in our Solar System have been equipped with acoustic sensors for purposes other than making a "nature sounds from an alien world cd". "

Those precedents may have been set, but is it the norm? Is it the standard operating procedure to equip probes with microphones? I don't believe so. We rely on visual cues more than auditory ones so our probes have been fitted out with cameras and video equipment.

Yes, your link provides examples of the precedents set for including mics and what purposes they were intended for, but those purposes could be served by other equipment just as easily. Wind speed, atmospheric composition, etc.

Just because it has been done doesn't mean it needs to be done. Which brings us back to the original question of the op.

- Is it the standard operating procedure to equip probes with microphones? -

Well, who knows if it's the norm? Humanity's been in the unmanned space exploration biz a little over half a century and it's not like today's space probes roll off an assembly line like a smart-phone or car - they've all essentially been custom jobs each and every one. Different researchers put forward proposals for what instruments to add to the package and these get chosen or rejected by committee. Obvs, the acoustic instrumentation dudes in the instances cited made their case and their gear got flown. As for the OP, if the story in question requires acoustic data as a plot point, there's precedent to be cited, so why the hell not?

No one said they rolled off an assembly line, so no idea why you're tossing that out there.

Yes, different researchers have different ideas for what to put in a probe, but from the looks of things microphones have never been a really big standard issue item.

As for writing a story, "anything is possible, so why the hell not?" is pretty much all that needs to be said.

The simple answer is the probe will detect whatever the engineers design it to detect - no more and no less.

Hey Pat! So true. And we all know that everyone wants something different! :)

I know this is meant to be a serious scientific discussion, but on seeing the topic, my immediate fear was that they'll see things like American Idol, Survivor, and Real Housewives of FillInTheBlank and pass us by ...

stormhawk wrote: "I know this is meant to be a serious scientific discussion, but on seeing the topic, my immediate fear was that they'll see things like American Idol, Survivor, and Real Housewives of FillInTheBlan..."

*snicker*

Pass us by? I think they'll run.

"Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

stormhawk wrote: "I know this is meant to be a serious scientific discussion, but on seeing the topic, my immediate fear was that they'll see things like American Idol, Survivor, and Real Housewives of FillInTheBlank and pass us by ... "

Probably for the best. I'm one of those people who firmly believes that any encounter with alien life would quickly turn hostile.

Not because the aliens would be hostile...but because WE would be.