NASA's Insight Mars lander has detected the largest ever monster quake on the Red Planet. The quake — estimated to be of magnitude 5 — occurred on May 4, which is also the 1,222nd Martian day (or sol) of the mission, NASA said in a statement.

Figure 1: NASA’s mars insight lander records Massive Quake.

Figure 1 shows that the largest previously recorded quake was an estimated magnitude 4.2 detected on August 25, 2021. While Mars has been the target of numerous planetary science missions, the Insight mission is the first to specifically measure the subsurface using seismic methods.

Although a magnitude 5 quake is a medium-size quake compared to those felt on Earth, it's close to the upper limit of what scientists hoped to see on Mars during InSight's mission. [1]

A seismometer that was developed by the French space agency CNES. By detecting and analysing seismic waves as they travel through the various geological layers of Mars, the equipment gives scientists the ability to take a sneak look at the innards of the planet from a faraway location.

The geologists are able to estimate the depth and composition of these layers by comparing what they observe on the Red Planet with what they know about the behavior of seismic waves on Earth. These layers are known as the crust, the mantle, and the core, respectively. [2]

On May 4, the Red Planet was rocked by a roughly magnitude 5 temblor, 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.

Cerberus Fossae is known for its fractured surface and frequent rockfalls. It makes sense that the ground would be shifting there, says geophysicist Philippe Lognonné, principal investigator of the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure, InSight’s seismometer. “It’s an ancient volcanic bulge.” [3]

References:

1. https://weather.com/en-IN/india/space/news/2022-05-11-nasa-mars-insight-lander-records-massive-quake
2. https://asianatimes.com/nasas-insight-lander-has-recorded-the-largest-marsquake-yet/
3. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nasa-insight-lander-mars-marsquake

Cite this article:

Sri Vasagi K (2022), Massive Quake on The Red Planet Recorded in NASA’s Mars Insight Lander, Anatechmaz, pp. 285