NASA’s robotic InSight project, which stands for “Interior Exploration utilizing Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport,” touched down on Mars successfully at 19:53 GMT on November 26, 2018.
Its main goal was to put a Lockheed Martin fixed lander on Mars’ surface to investigate the planet’s early geological history. This aids in the understanding of how the terrestrial planets of the Solar System first formed. Three instruments are housed within the lander. They are:
a seismometer to carry out the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment for the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) (RISE)
These tools assess the seismic activity of Mars, the rate of heat movement from the interior, and the dimensions and structural integrity of the iron-rich core of Mars.
Together with the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and France, these countries are leading the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS).
The short period seismometer (SEIS-SP) component of the instrument was supplied by Imperial College London and Oxford University in the UK.
The deep internal structure of Mars is evaluated by the seismic activity package.
This includes recording signals from marsquakes, meteorite collisions, and the tides produced by Phobos, the moon of Mars. Even tremors smaller than a hydrogen atom can be detected by the SEIS sensor!
It has been stated that as of May 2022, the InSight Mars lander is progressively losing power and is anticipated to cease operation by December 2022, capping a mission that has successfully found quake-prone regions of Mars and detected more than 1,300 marsquakes.
The strongest earthquake ever recorded on another planet was discovered by InSight on May 4, 2022, and was estimated to be of magnitude 5.
