NASA’s InSight lander officially detects ‘marsquakes’ on Mars
1Reported today on The Verge
For the full article visit: https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/24/21150737/nasa-marsquakes-mars-earthquake-lander-insight-research
Reported today in The Verge.
NASA's InSight lander officially detects 'marsquakes' on Mars
NASA's InSight lander has detected hundreds of "marsquakes" on Mars, including about 20 tremors that were relatively significant. Compared to quakes here on Earth, the marsquakes were pretty puny, but the new data could provide planetary scientists with more information about the interior of Mars.
The initial results of the mission were published on Monday in the journals Nature Geoscience and Nature Communications. The lander, which touched down on Mars via supersonic parachute in 2018, detected its first possible marsquake in April 2019.
Many of the quakes that InSight detected were small enough that they probably wouldn't be felt if they happened on Earth, Philippe Lognonné, principal investigator for one of the lander's instruments, said in a press conference. "Mars is a place where we can probably say the seismic hazard is extremely low," Lognonné added. "At least at this time."
The 24 largest quakes discussed in the paper only reached a magnitude 3 or 4, which on Earth, might be powerful enough to be felt as a rumble on the ground but usually aren't strong enough to cause serious damage. But unlike on Earth, where quakes can happen closer to the surface, it appears that the marsquakes InSight detected tended to originate far deeper in the planet (30 to 50 kilometers). The deeper the quake, the less shaking is felt on the surface.
The researchers had hoped to register larger quakes, which would have given them a more detailed look at the interior of the planet - and even potentially the core - but that hasn't happened yet.
"The general cause of marsquakes is the long-term cooling of the planet," Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator, said in a press call on Fri