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NOTMars Insight's AsS lander has detected signals of what could have been a marsquake. The signals were recorded on April 6 and, if confirmed, would be the first detection of seismic activity on Mars.
Although the signals are only weakly attenuated, they correspond to the profile of the lunar earthquakes detected by seismometers left on the lunar surface by the astronauts of Apollo 50 years ago. The apparent marsquake produced larger readings than the spacecraft tremor due to the Martian wind, but lower than the vibrations caused by the robotic arm movement of the spacecraft.
Even weaker signals of possible earthquakes were recorded on March 14 and April 10 and 11. On Earth, signals of this size would not even be detected in the context of the seismic noise generated every day in our planet.
InSight landed on Mars on November 26, 2018 and deployed the seismometer a few weeks later. The seismic experiment for interior structures (SEIS) was designed and carried out by CNES, the French space agency. In addition to the marsquakes, SEIS is designed to detect the impact of meteorites and the vibrations of the Martian surface in response to meteorological phenomena such as Martian dust storms.
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