A lonely rover toiling among the sands of Mars has now answered an age-old question: If lightning crackles on the red planet and no one hears it, does it still make a sound?

In recordings obtained by NASA's Perseverance rover , scientists have identified, for the first time, electrical discharges captured during Mars's wild dust events and whirling dust devils – not once, but 55 times over two Martian years of observation.

Crucially, the dusty weather in which these events appeared reveals the specific conditions required to generate electricity in the thin, bone-dry atmosphere of Mars – long suspected but never directly demonstrated until now.

Related: Curiosity Cracked Open a Rock on Mars – And Discovered a Big Surprise

Lightning is thought to occur when turbulent

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