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Historical measurement: NASA seismometer Marssonde InSight recorded the first earthquake on April 6th. This is the first evidence of an underground vibration on Mars. The Martian earthquake was still too weak to gather more information on the inside of the planet. But the researchers are convinced that other measures will follow.
Even if Mars explores, it also seems that what is happening inside is largely unknown. More information will now provide NASA's Mars InSight probe, which landed November 27, 2018 on the Red Planet. In addition to a drill and a thermal probe, InSight is equipped with a seismometer. This has already transmitted the first wind noise of a foreign planet before it is then placed on the Martian surface for measuring the earthquake.
Shock of Mars underground
Now, the seismometer provided the data that he was looking for: probably the first evidence of an earthquake on Mars. On April 6, 2019, March 12, the InSight probe on Mars, the seismometer recorded the signal of a weak shock. "Until now, we only recorded background noise – up to now," says Bruce Banerdt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). "This first event opens a whole new field: Martian seismology."
"We have been waiting for an event like this for months," adds Philippe Lognonné, team leader at the Institute of Global Physics in Paris. "It's exciting to finally have evidence that Mars is still seismically active." In addition to the April 6 earthquake, the InSight seismometer recorded three weaker vibrations, the researchers reported. These seismic signals were too weak to be clearly identified as earthquakes.
Similarities with moon tremors
As the researchers explain, the seismic profile of the Martian earthquake differs considerably from vibrations caused by wind or other surface events. Instead, the signals are similar to those of the moonquakes recorded by Apollo mission astronauts on the Earth's satellite with seismometers. Where the earthquake outbreak was and what triggered it, the researchers are still trying to read the data.
The problem: unlike the often strong tectonic earthquakes of our planet, the vibrations of the subsoil of Mars are extremely weak. Because they are not caused by the movements of the plates of the Earth's crust, but probably by the contraction of the interior of the Mars planet that is gradually cooling – at least the common theory. Mars InSight seismometer data should help clarify these processes.
This is how the first earthquake recorded by the seismometer InSight sounds.© NASA / JPL
The first recording of the March 6th earthquake proves that the SEIS instrument is indeed sensitive enough to capture even the low vibrations of the Martian metro – an important step. "We are delighted with this initial success and hope to receive further measures of this type over the next few years," said Charles Yana of the SEIS team.
Source: NASA / JPL
April 24, 2019
– Nadja Podbregar
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