On May 4, the Red Planet was rocked by a rough magnitude 5 temblors, the largest Marsquake detected to date, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., reports. The shaking lasted for more than six hours and released more than 10 times the energy of the previous record-holding quake.
The U.S. space agency’s Insight lander, which has been studying Mars’ deep interior since touching down on the planet in 2018 (SN: 11/26/18), recorded the event. The quake probably originated near the Cerberus Fosse region, which is more than 1,000 kilometers from the lander.
Cerberus Fosse is known for its fractured surface and frequent rockfalls. It makes sense that the ground would be shifting there, says geophysicist Philippe Lognonne, principal investigator of the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure, Insight seismometer. “It’s an ancient volcanic bulge.”
Just like earthquakes reveal information about our planet’s interior structure, Mars quotes can be used to probe what lies beneath Mars’ (SN: 7/22/21). And a lot can be learned from studying this whopper of a quake, says Lognonné, of the Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris. “The signal is so good, we’ll be able to work on the details.”
The ‘mar’ quake is a medium-size seismic event compared to those felt on Earth, but it’s close to the upper limit of what the scientists hoped to see on Mars during the Insight mission.
They will need to study this new quake further before being able to provide details such as its location, the nature of its source, and what it might tell us about the interior of Mars.
“Since we set our seismometer down in December 2018, we’ve been waiting for ‘the big one’,” said Insight principal investigator Dr. Bruce Bands, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
After an almost seven-month, 458-million-km journey from Earth, it touched down on November 26, 2018, near Mars’ equator on the western side of a flat, smooth expanse of lava called Elysium Planta.
The lander sits in what appears to be a nearly rock-free ‘hollow’ — a depression created by a meteor impact that later filled with sand.
“Insight was sent to Mars with a highly sensitive seismometer to study the deep interior of the planet,” said members of the Insight team.
“As seismic waves pass through or reflect off material in Mars’ crust, mantle, and core, they change in ways that we can study to determine the depth and composition of these layers.”
“What we learn about the structure of Mars can help us better understand the formation of all rocky worlds, including Earth and its Moon.”
"This quake is sure to provide a view into the planet like no other. Scientists will be analyzing this data to learn new things about Mars for years to come," he added.
The lander carries a highly sensitive seismometer, provided by France's Center National (CNES), to study the deep interior of the planet.
As seismic waves pass through or reflect off material in Mars' crust, mantle, and core, they change in ways that seismologists can study to determine the depth and composition of these layers. What scientists learn about the structure of Mars can help them better understand the formation of all rocky worlds, including Earth and its Moon.
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