According to a  new series of papers published in the journal Nature and Nature Geoscience, InSight, a NASA lander on Mars has recorded evidence of ‘marsquakes’.

They are not particularly big – at most, they’re only 3 to 4 on the magnitude scale, which one can feel only if they are standing directly above the area.

What is the InSight mission?

• InSight is a robotic lander designed to study the interiors (under the surface) of Mars.
• It arrived on Mars on 26 November 2018 and settled in a small crater that has been informally named Homestead Hollow.
• It has many instruments to gather data on all the rock layers below the surface of Mars. Scientists can then compare this data to Earth’s data.

Since 2018, InSight has detected over 300 such ‘marsquakes’. Previously, it had also recorded ‘strange sounds’ on Mars.

Why is this mission important?

• This is the first-ever mission of its kind – to capture geophysical data of a planet other than Earth.
• Scientists are excited that Mars is seismically* active – that “Mars is far from being a dull, dead planet; it’s an active one”.

InSight will study Mars for one more year. By then, we can hope to continue to learn more about Mars and its atmosphere as well.

*Seismically: Relating to earthquakes or other vibrations of a planet and its crust.

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