On May 4, 2022, NASA’s InSight launch vehicle registered its 1222nd Martian day of its mission. It was also the day his seismometer recorded a magnitude five earthquake on Mars, the strongest ever recorded by humanity on any planet, NASA said in a statement on the JPL website.
InSight landed on Martian Earth in November 2018 and is tasked with learning more about the deep interior of the Red Planet. To do this, he uses a seismometer called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), which looks nothing more than a covered cake pan. Under the dome, wind and thermal shield, SEIS monitors all seismic activity and has cataloged more than 1,300 smaller earthquakes to date.
The strongest recorded earthquake so far
SEIS is provided by the French Space Agency, Center National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) and examines changes in seismic waves as they pass through the crust, mantle and core of Mars. By studying these changes, scientists can determine the depth and composition of these layers. Then knowledge from Mars can be applied to explore other celestial objects, such as the Moon and even our Earth better.
Months after landing on Mars, InSight announced its first earthquake, a seismic activity equivalent to 2.5 magnitudes, here on Earth. However, scientists were convinced that there were more powerful tremors on the Red Planet and had to wait more than four years to record an earthquake of five on the Richter scale earlier this month.
“Ever since we left our seismometer in December 2018, we’ve been waiting for the ‘big one,'” said Bruce Bannerd, chief researcher at InSight at NASA’s Southern California Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This earthquake will certainly provide a view of the planet like no other. Scientists will analyze this data to learn new things about Mars for years to come. “
The quake beat the previous record for the highest earthquakes, reached only last month, after the lander detected two huge tremors with a magnitude of 4.2.
Will we see InSight data again?
Like other NASA missions, InSight was a limited-time mission planned to remain in service until 2020. However, the lander has already entered the second year of its expanded mission and the Martian environment has begun to reflect.
InSight solar panels have recently faced problems, and as winter approaches, sunlight will be scarce due to increased dust on the surface of Mars. Days after registering its strongest earthquake, InSight went into safe mode after its energy levels fell below the prescribed limit, NASA said in a statement. Designed to protect the landing gear, the safety mode can be reactivated when the available power decreases.
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