NASA's InSight Mars Lander has recently retrieved clear data of two relatively strong quakes that occurred on the Red Planet.
The InSight Lander was launched in 2018 and successfully landed on Mars the following year. Its purpose is to investigate the geology of Mars including temblors that struck the planet and are known as Marsquakes. Those quakes do not have the same origin as earthquakes since Mars does not have tectonic plates and seismic waves are mainly caused by volcanic activity.
The mission has provided rather interesting findings on Marsquakes. Until recently, scientists had data regarding earthquakes and moonquakes. They have concluded that seismic waves on Earth propagate directly through the planet while those on the Moon have a tendency to be more scattered. The new data reveal the Marsquakes have intermediate behavior. Moreover, the Martian seismic waves have been divided into two categories: a) High-frequency waves which derive from shallow Martian crust and b) Low-frequency waves which are more infrequent and originate from the mantle of Mars. Nevertheless, details on their origin and characteristics are yet to be discovered.
The lander is currently located in Cerberus Fossae, a region characterized by extensional faults which stretches for about 1000 kilometers. In March 2021, it detected two quakes with magnitudes of 3.5 and 3.6, respectively. Two similar seismic shocks have also recently been recorded. The lander has acquired numerous recordings of seismic waves during its expedition but, the later ones are of high importance since the signals are clear. The location of the quakes strengthens the idea that Cerberus Fossae is a region where seismic activity intensifies.
The image in the Image Gallery below shows how the lander buries the seismometer’s cable into the ground to connect the seismometer with the spacecraft.
The challenges of measuring seismicity on Mars
Similar to Earth, the Red Planet has four seasons but, one year in Mars is about two years on Earth (687 days). The detection of Marsquakes is highly affected by seasonal factors and especially by strong winds. The lander utilizes a sensitive sensor known as SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) which is sometimes triggered by winds that affect the surface of Mars causing vibrations and disabling its functionality. For this reason, the current season (summer for north Mars) has proven to be optimum for seismic wave detection. During the last winter season, the lander could not retrieve any seismic data. “It’s wonderful to once again observe marsquakes after a long period of recording wind noise,” John Clinton, a seismologist who leads InSight’s Marsquake Service at ETH Zurich, stated. More issues regarding the detection of marsquakes emerge when considering the large temperature range (from -100°C to 0°C) that the devices need to adapt to. The exposure in such variation has triggered equipment expansion and contraction resulting in seismic noise.
Another problem that the mission currently tackles is the lack of power. The lander is fueled by solar energy via installed solar panels which are covered with dust. NASA expects to capture enough solar power so that the situation ameliorates by July 2021 but, at some point, the lander will temporarily switch off.
Sources: NASA-Mars Exploration Program, NASA-Mars Insight Mission, Nature
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