Marsquake

In News

• Recently, NASA’s InSight lander detected a quake on Mars, the largest ever observed on another planet.

Key Points

• Earlier Events:
  • The InSight rover first landed on Mars in November 2018, and has since heard 1,313 quakes. 
  • The largest previously recorded “marsquake” was detected in August 2021.
• Marsquakes and its cause: 
  • On Earth, quakes are caused by shifts in tectonic plates. Mars, however, does not have tectonic plates, and its crust is a giant plate. 
  • Therefore, NASA notes, ‘marsquakes’ are caused due to stresses that cause rock fractures or faults in its crust.
• Magnitude: 
  • This Marsquake is estimated to have hit magnitude 5 on the scale used on Earth. 
  • A magnitude-5 quake on Earth would be classed as moderate, only causing minor damage. 
  • However, it’s right at the upper end of the size of quakes that scientists are discovering on Mars, due to less seismic activity.
• Difficult to detect: 
  • As marsquakes aren’t typically as violent as earthquakes, they’re more difficult to detect, and other vibrations – from the wind, for example – can interfere with readings.

NASA’s InSight

• About: 
  • InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. 
  • It is the first outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core.
  • With InSight, scientists hope to compare Earth and Mars, and better understand how a planet’s starting materials make it more or less likely to support life.
• Functions: 
  • The lander uses cutting edge instruments, to delve deep beneath the surface and seek the fingerprints of the processes that formed the terrestrial planets. 
  • It does so by measuring the planet’s “vital signs”: its “pulse” (seismology), “temperature” (heat flow), and “reflexes” (precision tracking).
  • InSight also measures tectonic activity and meteorite impacts on Mars today.
  • InSight is not looking for life on Mars, but is studying what Mars is made of, how its material is layered, and how much heat seeps out of it.
• Part Discovery Program: 
  • This mission is part of NASA’s Discovery Program for highly focused science missions that ask critical questions in solar system science.
• Present status: 
  • Insight has now run into some technical difficulties.
  • With the onset of the Martian winter and increased levels of dust in the air, the lander is struggling to get enough sunlight on the solar panels that power it up.
  • As a result, the machine has put itself into safe mode for the time being. 
  • This hibernation shuts down all but the most essential functions, and it may be some time before we hear anything from Insight again.

Significance of InSight 

• Learning about the Mars: 
  • By studying the seismic waves travelling across Mars, scientists hope to learn more about the planet’s crust, mantle, and core. 
  • It will also help in understanding how Mars (and other similar planets, such as Earth) formed in the first place.
• Answering questions about other Planets:
  • Studying Mars’ interior structure answers key questions about the early formation of rocky planets in the inner solar system – Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars – more than 4 billion years ago, as well as rocky exoplanets. 
• The existence of life on Mars: 
  • The possible presence of liquid water on it, either in the past or preserved in its subsurface makes the planet more intriguing for scientists. 
  • Regardless of life having existed on Mars or not, there is the idea that humans themselves might be able to inhabit the planet one day.

Other missions to Mars

• UAE’s Hope
• China’s Tianwen-1
•  NASA’s Perseverance

Source: IE