‘Marsquake’ on Red Planet: NASA records first likely seismic activity

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Published: April 25, 2019 1:18:56 PM

This is the first recorded trembling that appears to have come from inside the planet, as opposed to being caused by forces above the surface, such as wind, NASA said in a statement.

Artist’s concept of InSight lander on Mars. (Source for text and image: NASA)

NASA’s robotic Mars InSight lander has recorded a likely “marsquake” for the first time ever, the US space agency said. The faint seismic signal, detected by the lander’s Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, was recorded on April 6, the lander’s 128th Martian day. This is the first recorded trembling that appears to have come from inside the planet, as opposed to being caused by forces above the surface, such as wind, NASA said in a statement. Scientists still are examining the data to determine the exact cause of the signal.

“InSight’s first readings carry on the science that began with NASA’s Apollo missions,” said InSight Principal Investigator Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the US. “We’ve been collecting background noise up until now, but this first event officially kicks off a new field: Martian seismology!” Banerdt said. The new seismic event was too small to provide solid data on the Martian interior, which is one of InSight’s main objectives. The Martian surface is extremely quiet, allowing SEIS, InSight’s specially designed seismometer, to pick up faint rumbles.



InSight’s seismometer, which the lander placed on the planet’s surface on December 19, 2018, will enable scientists to gather similar data about Mars. By studying the deep interior of Mars, they hope to learn how other rocky worlds, including Earth and the Moon, formed. Three other seismic signals occurred on March 14, April 10 and April 11.

Detected by SEIS’ more sensitive Very Broad Band sensors, these signals were even smaller than the Sol 128 event and more ambiguous in origin. The team will continue to study these events to try to determine their cause, NASA said. Regardless of its cause, the Sol 128 signal is an exciting milestone for the team. “We’ve been waiting months for a signal like this,” said Philippe Lognonne, SEIS team lead at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) in France.

“It’s so exciting to finally have proof that Mars is still seismically active. We’re looking forward to sharing detailed results once we’ve had a chance to analyze them,” Lognonne said. Most people are familiar with quakes on Earth, which occur on faults created by the motion of tectonic plates.


