"Monster" earthquake recorded - NASA measures the largest tremor on Mars to date
Created: 05/11/2022 11:27 am
By: Laura May
Magnitude 5 quake: Researchers from NASA's Mars Mission Insight measure the largest tremor ever measured on another planet.
Munich – NASA measured a magnitude 5 earthquake on Mars.
This is the strongest tremor ever measured on any other planet.
The movement was recorded by NASA's InSight Mars mission, which has been stationed on Mars since 2018.
The measurement data provide information about the interior and development of the earth-like planet.
According to the scientists, the evaluation of the collected data will probably take several years.
NASA mission: "We've been waiting for the big one since 2018"
On day 1,222 of the mission, the InSight Mars Lander's highly sensitive seismographic instruments were able to record the quake.
The largest tremor to date on Mars was previously recorded on August 25, 2021 and had a magnitude of 4.2.
"Ever since we placed our seismometer in December 2018, we've been waiting for the big one," Bruce Banerdt, InSight's principal investigator at the organization's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), explains on the NASA blog.
Compared to tremors on Earth, the tremors on Mars are comparatively weak - yet a magnitude 5 quake is at the upper limit of what researchers thought possible on Mars.
The strongest recorded earthquake occurred in Valdivia, Chile, in 1960 and had a magnitude of 9.5.
NASA's InSight Mars lander at work.
(Artist's rendering) © Nasa/JPL
Findings from InSight so far: The structure of Mars and Earth is similar
The quake gives scientists at Banerdt the opportunity to get a detailed look inside Mars.
InSight has been collecting data on Mars since 2018 to better understand the red planet and explore possible parallels.
Elon Musk, for example, believes it is possible to carry out manned Mars missions in the near future.
What have NASA scientists found out about Mars so far?
The red planet is similar in structure to Earth, but has a larger liquid core and a thinner crust.
