After all the amazing discoveries that human-made space probes have made
over the last half a century, what more can be found out? Well, there is certainly
more to learn, and a certain NASA mission can offer a fresh insight into Mars.
NASA’s Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat
Transport, or ‘InSight’ for short, will probe beneath the surface in order to
answer long-standing questions about the planet’s deep interior.
It has placed a seismometer, SEIS, on Mars' surface as well as a heat probe,
HP^3 , and a radio science instrument, RISE, that measures seismic activity,
subsurface heat movement and planet-sized wobble that may occur on the Red
Planet. This will answer questions not only about Mars’ deep interior, but also
address questions about the other three rocky Solar System planets – Mercury,
Venus and Earth.What’s to come
earthquakes vs Marsquakes
How will InSight understand the inner workings
of our neighbouring planet?Measuringearthquakes
Themaininstrumentusedon
Earthtomeasureearthquakes,
volcanicactivityandexplosions
isa seismometer,whichusesa
detectionsensorthatmeasures
themotionoftheground.Platetectonics
Earthquakesandvolcanicactivity
arecausedbyactivityunderour
planet’scrust.Thechurning,
moltenrockunderneathdrivesthe
Earth'splatestoclash,collideand
grindagainsteachother.
Mars’deepinterior
SEIS,alongwiththeothertwoInSight
instruments,willtakea peakbehind
thebig,redcurtainandunderstand
ifMarsismoltenorsolid,aswellas
findingoutthestoryofitsevolution.TheSeismicExperimentfor
InteriorStructure(SEIS)
NASA’sInSightlanderdepolyedits
seismometeronthesurfaceofMars
on 19 December2018,placedthereby
itsroboticarm.Aprotectivedomewas
placedovertheinstrumentearlierthis
year.Thiswillmeasureanymarsquakes,
volcanicactivityormeteorimpacts.“InSight’ will probe beneath the surface in order to answer long-standing
questions about the planet’s deep interior”
©Illustration by Tobias RoetschMars