NASA's InSight Mars lander detects 3 biggest marsquakes to date
By Mike Wall 1 day ago
The new detections are a triumph over adversity for InSight, which has battled declining power levels.
NASA's InSight Mars lander snapped this image of its seismometer suite, which is protected by a wind and thermal shield, on July 20, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA's InSight lander has detected its three most powerful marsquakes yet, potentially giving scientists an even clearer picture of the Red Planet's interior.
InSight spotted 4.2- and 4.1-magnitude temblors on Aug. 25, then picked up another roughly 4.2-magnitude quake on Sept. 18 that lasted for nearly 90 minutes, NASA officials announced on Wednesday (Sept. 22).
The previous record holder, which InSight measured in 2019, clocked in at magnitude 3.7 — about five times less powerful than a 4.2-magnitude quake.
InSight (short for "Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport" ) touched down near the Martian equator in November 2018, tasked with probing the planet's interior like never before.
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