NASA has detected the largest quake ever recorded on another planet—a magnitude 5 tremor that shook Mars on May 4.
The space agency detected the quake using its InSight Mars lander, which is equipped with a highly sensitive seismometer used to study the planet’s interior.
The seismometer can do this by studying Mars’ frequent but usually small ‘marsquakes.’ Mars does not have tectonic plates like the Earth does, but it does have volcanically active regions which can cause rumbles.
InSight has detected over 1,300 such rumbles so far, with some breaking records.
Around August last year the lander detected its two largest seismic events to date: a magnitude 4.2 and a magnitude 4.1 quake. These were the first to be recorded on Mars’ far side and were also five time stronger than the previous largest quake.
However, the May 4 quake, announced by NASA on Monday night, was determined to be a magnitude 5 quake, blowing the previous record out of the water. It’s close to the strongest quake scientists expected to see on Mars during Insight’s mission.
On Earth, a magnitude 5 quake would be enough to be felt and possibly cause some minor damage according to the Michigan Technological University Earthquake Magnitude Scale.
Bruce Banerdt, principal investigator of the InSight mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a press release that the InSight team had been waiting for “the big one” since the seismometer was deployed back in December 2018.
He said: “This quake is sure to provide a view into the planet like no other. Scientists will be analyzing this data to learn new things about Mars for years to come.”
InSight’s seismometer is a round, dome-shaped instrument that sits on the surface of Mars and records the vibrations it detects. Such vibrations might be caused by the thump of an asteroid impact, landslides, or quakes.
As the vibrations travel through Mars’ interior they will change depending on the material that they encounter. Using the seismometer, scientists can figure out what material the vibrations passed through before they were recorded.
The seismometer is so sensitive that it has encountered problems in the past. The seismometer can pick up the vibrations caused by gusts of wind which are not particularly useful. Windy conditions can therefore make it difficult to detect real quakes. In one winter season, the seismometer couldn’t detect any quakes at all.
NASA recently extended the InSight lander mission through December 2022, though the probe is facing new challenges with its solar panels which power the mission due to dust in the air.
