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- NASA’s robotic probe In-Sight has detected and measured a probable seismological tremor on Mars. This is the first time a likely seismological tremor has been recorded on a planet other than the Earth and its Moon. NASA has labelled the tremor a “Marsquake”.
- Previously also tremors have been recorded but 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.
- The seismic event was recorded by In-Sight’s seismometer called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS).
- InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander. It seeks to study the deep interior of the planet Mars. It also seeks to determine the rate of Martian tectonic activity and meteorite impacts.
- The mission is part of NASA’s Discovery Program for highly focused science missions that ask critical questions in solar system science. It is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- The mission was launched in May 2018 aboard an Atlas V-401 rocket. It had successfully landed at Elysium Planitia on Mars in November 2018.
