A meteor crashed into Mars on Christmas Eve 2021, and shook the planet so much that NASA‘s InSight lander recorded the rumblings.
Scientists didn‘t know where the quake came from until NASA‘s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft circling the red planet, captured images of the new impact crater. NASA revealed the discovery on Thursday.
(22.07.2019)
Provided by the French space agency, Centre National d‘Études Spatiales (CNES), the seismometer detected its first marsquake on April 6, 2019. The InSight mission‘s Marsquake Service, which monitors the data from SEIS, is led by Swiss research university ETH Zurich.
(23.04.2019)
The faint seismic signal, detected by the lander‘s Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, was recorded on April 6, the lander‘s 128th Martian day, or sol. This is the first recorded trembling that appears to have come from inside the planet, as opposed to being caused by forces above the surface, such as wind. Scientists still are examining the data to determine the exact cause of the signal.
This video and audio illustrates a seismic event detected by NASA‘s InSight on April 6, 2019, the 128th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Three distinct kinds of sounds can be heard, all of them detected as ground vibrations by the spacecraft‘s seismometer, called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS): There‘s noise from Martian wind; the seismic event itself; and the spacecraft‘s robotic arm as it moves to take pictures.
„Insight“ ist ein 360 Kilogramm schwerer Roboter, der nicht rollt, sondern an einem Ort bleibt. Die insgesamt rund 650 Millionen Euro teure Mission ist auf zwei Jahre angelegt.
In den kommenden zwei Jahren soll der stationäre Roboter den Planeten erforschen. Dafür hat er ein wichtiges Modul aus Deutschland an Bord.
After seven months of traveling through space, the NASA InSight mission has landed on Mars.
All previous CubeSats have orbited the Earth. MarCO is the first attempt to go to another planet. By verifying that the technologies for interplanetary missions are feasible and can be developed on a short timeline, this test mission could lead to many other SmallSat applications for exploring our solar system. Some could provide similar support functions as „carry your own“ relay providers. Others could have primary scientific research functions of their own, such as radio transmissions through planetary atmospheres, imaging with small cameras, observations with other miniaturized instruments, or in-place measurements of space environments.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT) from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California carrying NASA‘s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet‘s interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes.
InSight, which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, will be the first lander or rover bound for Mars since Curiosity launched in 2011. It will also be the first to dig deep into the planet’s interior in an effort to understand how the planet’s geology evolved over billions of years. The probe will scan for seismic activity, keeping tabs on the planet’s so-called “marsquakes.”
Dafür hat die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) ein Messgerät entwickelt, das bis zu fünf Meter unter die Oberfläche des Planeten vordringen kann. Außerdem sollen Marsbeben vermessen werden. Die kleine Rammsonde der DLR soll sich automatisch fünf Meter tief in den Marsboden hämmern und in unterschiedlichen Tiefen die Temperatur und die Wärmeleitfähigkeit messen.