We heard our first marshake

After landing on Mars last NovemberThe InSight probe first deployed a set of meteorological equipment, and then began to check the performance of its scientific instruments. After that, the NASA landing gear unfolded its seismometer assembled by the French on the surface of the Red Planet in December, and put it into operation in early February. And he began to listen.

Finally, on April 6, a seismometer recorded a weakbut an expressive seismic signal. Scientists have concluded that this is a push of the earth, which came precisely from the depths of the world, and not due to any external factors like wind.

The first sounds of the Martian earthquake

"We have been waiting for our first marsh tremor for months,"says Philippe Lognonne, principal investigator of the seismometer mission, which was developed by the French space agency CNES. “It is so great to finally get evidence that Mars is still seismically active. We look forward to the opportunity to share detailed results as soon as we examine them and model our data. ”

Of course, scientists investigated earthquakes onour own planet for over a hundred years, listening to them and measuring. In 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin launched a seismometer on the moon, almost 50 years ago, to investigate the internal structure of the moon. And they discovered an incredibly active geological world.

French scientists together with NASA found that marshmal shocks resemble those that occurred on the moon.

Mars, I hear you.I've detected some quiet but distinct shaking on #Mars. The faint rumbles appear to have come from the inside of the planet, and are still being studied by my team. Take a listen.?https://t.co/GxR1xdRx1F pic.twitter.com/Z8Hn03jigO

- NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) April 23, 2019

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"The first InSight readings continue science, whichstarted with the Apollo mission, says Bruce Banderdt, InSight principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “So far we have collected background noise, but this first event officially opens up a new area: Martian seismology.”

This earthquake was not strong enough to tell much about the interior of Mars, but they expect future, stronger earthquakes to provide this information.

Meanwhile, NASA and the company's international partnerscontinue to troubleshoot the probe, namely in its "mole" - part of the descent module, designed to bury to a depth of five meters and provide additional information about the depths of Mars. Soon after the “mole” began to hammer itself into the surface two months ago, its progress stopped and scientists are now investigating whether it is stuck or not.

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