Scientists at NASA have reported an intriguing discovery by the Mars Insight spacecraft – the mysterious roar of the planet’s interior.
Researchers believe that the seismic events may have been caused by a sudden release of energy from the planet’s interior, but the nature of this release is still unknown and confusing.
Interestingly, it is believed that the new snoring came from a site on Mars called Cerberus Fusai, where The other two events are the previous candidates It is believed to have originated.
A dome-covered device recently found a grunt
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Although these vibrations are sometimes called “Mars earthquakes,” the planet is not thought to have an active tectonic system similar to Earth’s that causes earthquakes.
Surprisingly, a previous seismic event was detected by the Space Agency’s Insight spacecraft – namely He reached the surface of the planet In 2018-it happened about a year ago on Mars, or two years on Earth, during the summer north of Mars.
Scientists predict that this season will provide landers with the best chance of hearing earthquakes because the winds on the planet will be calmer.
The InSight seismometer, called the Internal Structural Seismic Experiment (SEIS), is so sensitive that it must be covered with a dome-shaped shield to keep it out of the wind and prevent it from freezing during use.
Even so, the wind still caused enough vibrations to mask the seismic signal they were looking for, so the NASA team began trying to isolate the sensitive cable.
To do so, the team deployed a scoop on the end of InSight’s robotic arm to bend the ground over the shield in a dome shape, allowing it to soak into the cables.
The goal is to get the ground as close to the shield as possible without disturbing the seal with the ground.
–Researchers are learning to differentiate between seismic signals
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Burying the seismic rope itself is one of the goals of the next phase of the mission, which NASA recently extended for two years through December 2022.
But even though the InSight’s seismometer was blowing in the wind, it didn’t do much for the landing ship’s solar panels, which remained covered in dust.
Energy is now reduced as Mars moves away from the sun, although energy levels are expected to rise after July when the planet begins to approach the sun again.
Until then, the team will turn off the InSight tools one by one so they can hibernate, wake up periodically just to check their health and send messages back to Earth.
NASA says the team hopes to keep the seismometer running for a month or two before turning it off.
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