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Marsquake

A marsquake is a seismic event on the planet Mars, analogous to an earthquake on Earth, but primarily caused by the cooling and contraction of the Martian crust, which generates stresses leading to rock fractures, or by meteoroid impacts that produce seismic waves.^[1]^[2] Unlike earthquakes on Earth, which are mostly driven by shifting tectonic plates, marsquakes arise from a lack of active plate tectonics on Mars, with additional contributions from volcanic activity or internal heat and pressure.^[3] These events vary in magnitude, with the strongest recorded reaching approximately 4.7 on the moment magnitude scale, and can last from seconds to over an hour, allowing seismic waves to propagate through the planet's interior.^[4] The detection of marsquakes became possible through NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission, which landed on Mars on November 26, 2018, and deployed the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) seismometer on the surface.^[5] The first confirmed marsquake, a magnitude of about 2.5 event, was recorded on April 6, 2019, marking the inaugural seismic observation from another planet.^[5] Over the mission's duration, which extended beyond its planned two Earth years until InSight's power depletion in December 2022, SEIS detected more than 1,300 marsquakes, ranging from low-frequency "moonquake-like" rumbles to higher-frequency signals, with epicenters often located in the Cerberus Fossae region, a tectonically active zone.^[6]^[7] Marsquakes have revolutionized our understanding of the Red Planet's geology by enabling the mapping of its internal layers through the analysis of seismic wave propagation.^[2] Data from these events reveal a crust about 24–75 kilometers thick, a core with a solid inner radius of about 613 km and a total radius of roughly 1,830 km consisting of a liquid iron-rich outer layer around the solid inner core, and a heterogeneous mantle with varying seismic velocities, indicating remnants of ancient magmatic activity. Recent analyses (as of 2025) reveal the mantle's lumpy composition from scattered impactor material, further indicating a dynamic interior history.^[8]^[9]^[1] The largest marsquake, on May 4, 2022, with a magnitude of 4.7 and duration exceeding 90 minutes, originated from tectonic stresses rather than an impact, highlighting ongoing geological dynamism on Mars despite its inactive surface.^[4] These findings not only inform models of planetary formation and evolution but also assess risks for future human exploration, such as potential surface shaking or resource distribution.^[2]

Overview

Definition

A marsquake is a seismic event on Mars characterized by the sudden release of stored elastic energy in the planet's crust or interior, resulting in the generation and propagation of seismic waves through the Martian lithosphere. This process is fundamentally analogous to earthquakes on Earth but occurs within Mars' unique geological context, including its lack of active plate tectonics.^[10] The term "marsquake" was popularized during NASA's InSight mission, which in 2019 recorded the first confirmed such event, distinguishing it from similar planetary phenomena like "moonquakes" observed on the Moon during the Apollo missions. This nomenclature emphasizes the seismic activity specific to Mars, separate from broader categories of planetary seismicity.^[11] Marsquakes arise from several basic mechanisms, primarily tectonic stresses induced by the planet's ongoing thermal contraction and cooling, which cause the crust to shrink and form faults. Additional causes include meteorite impacts that penetrate the thin atmosphere and generate shock waves, as well as potential volcanic or magmatic activity in regions like Cerberus Fossae, though the latter remains less confirmed.^[2]^[12] These events produce standard types of seismic waves adapted to Mars' environment: primary (P-waves), which are compressional and travel fastest through the solid interior; secondary (S-waves), which are shear waves that propagate more slowly; and surface waves, such as Love and Rayleigh waves, that travel along the crust. Mars' low gravity allows surface waves to propagate farther with less energy loss compared to Earth, while the thin atmosphere minimizes atmospheric interference but contributes to reduced damping of high-frequency signals.^[13]^[14]

Characteristics and Comparison to Earthquakes

Marsquakes exhibit distinct physical properties shaped by Mars' unique geological and environmental conditions. Due to the planet's smaller size—approximately half the diameter of Earth—and lower surface gravity of about 3.71 m/s² (38% of Earth's), seismic events on Mars generate lower amplitudes compared to terrestrial earthquakes of similar magnitudes.^[1] Frequencies of detected marsquakes typically range from 0.1 to 10 Hz, encompassing low-frequency events (below 1 Hz) associated with deeper sources and high-frequency events (around 2–5 Hz) linked to shallower crustal activity.^[15] These events often display longer durations, with coda lengths extending up to an hour or more, attributed to reduced seismic attenuation in Mars' drier regolith and mantle, which lacks the water content that dampens waves on Earth.^[16] Magnitudes are measured using adapted scales, including the moment magnitude (M_w) and Mars-specific local magnitude (M_L), calibrated from InSight data to account for the planet's interior structure and noise environment; the strongest recorded event reached M_w 4.7. Recent analyses as of 2025 confirm a solid inner core approximately 600 km in radius surrounded by a liquid outer core.^[9]^[17]^[18] In comparison to earthquakes, marsquakes are generally rarer and weaker, reflecting Mars' stagnant lid tectonic regime without active plate boundaries or subduction zones that drive most (about 90%) of Earth's seismicity.^[19] Over the InSight mission's duration, only about 1,300 marsquakes were detected, far fewer than the millions of earthquakes annually on Earth, with energies typically below M_w 4 despite Mars' comparable size to regions like Australia.^[15] Seismic wave propagation on Mars shows similarities in spectral content to intraplate earthquakes but lacks prominent surface waves, possibly due to scattering in the heterogeneous crust influenced by the ancient hemispheric dichotomy—the stark divide between the northern lowlands and southern highlands formed early in Martian history.^[15] This crustal contrast, with thicker highlands (up to 60 km) versus thinner lowlands (around 20–30 km), modulates event locations and wave paths, concentrating many marsquakes in transitional regions like Cerberus Fossae.^[20] Environmental factors further distinguish marsquake signals from earthquakes. Mars' thin atmosphere (about 1% of Earth's density) introduces minimal direct interference to seismic recordings, unlike wind-induced noise on Earth, but transient phenomena such as dust devils and global dust storms generate high-frequency surface vibrations (up to 10–20 Hz) that can mask low-amplitude events and elevate background noise levels.^[21] Additionally, the presence of a subsurface cryosphere—a layer of ice-rich permafrost estimated to extend several kilometers deep, varying by latitude—alters wave propagation by increasing shear-wave velocities in the upper crust and potentially causing mode conversions, leading to more complex signal arrivals than in Earth's water-saturated sediments.^[22]^[23] These factors collectively result in cleaner yet sporadically noisier seismic data, enabling clearer detection of distant events but challenging high-resolution analysis during stormy periods.^[24]

Detection and Instrumentation

Historical Efforts

Early efforts to detect seismic activity on Mars began in the 1960s with NASA studies exploring the inclusion of seismometers on proposed lander missions following the Mariner flyby probes, though technical constraints such as mass, power, and data transmission limitations prevented deployment until the Viking program in the 1970s.^[25] By the early 1970s, seismometers were incorporated into the Viking lander design as a secondary experiment, marking the first attempt to conduct in situ seismology on another planet, with the goal of characterizing noise environments and detecting local events to infer Martian interior structure.^[25] The Viking 1 and 2 landers, which touched down in July and September 1976, respectively, carried three-axis short-period seismometers mounted directly on the lander structure rather than deployed on the surface, limiting sensitivity due to vibrations from the spacecraft itself.^[25] Viking 1's instrument failed to uncage upon landing, while Viking 2 operated for over 500 Martian sols, collecting more than 2,100 hours of data but primarily recording wind-induced noise and lander activities, with no confirmed marsquakes identified at the time.^[26] This absence of detections established upper limits on Martian seismic activity, estimating fewer than 100 events per year above magnitude 3 with reasonable confidence, indicating significantly lower seismicity than Earth's intraplate regions.^[25] A 2023 reanalysis of Viking 2 data, informed by InSight mission waveforms, suggested two possible marsquake detections on sols 53 and 80, though these remain tentative due to data compression and noise challenges.^[27] Overall, these pioneering attempts were hampered by power constraints that restricted continuous high-rate sampling, the harsh Martian environment causing thermal and dust-related issues, and the absence of dedicated, surface-deployed sensors, which reduced signal quality amid dominant noise sources.^[25] In response to these limitations, post-Viking research shifted toward indirect methods, such as orbital gravity mapping from the Mars Global Surveyor mission launched in 1996 and entering orbit in 1997, which provided proxies for crustal thickness and mantle structure without relying on lander-based seismology.^[28] This approach used radio science data to model density variations, offering insights into potential seismic sources like crustal discontinuities until dedicated lander missions could resume.^[29]

InSight Mission and SEIS Instrument

The InSight mission, launched by NASA on May 5, 2018, aboard an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, aimed to explore the interior structure of Mars through seismology, heat flow measurements, and precise tracking of the planet's position.^[30] The spacecraft successfully landed in Elysium Planitia on November 26, 2018, after a six-month cruise, selecting this site for its flat terrain and minimal rock hazards to facilitate instrument deployment.^[30] Primary objectives included deploying a seismometer to detect marsquakes and infer crustal thickness, mantle composition, and core properties, alongside a heat probe to measure geothermal heat flow.^[31] Operations continued for over four years, transmitting data via UHF relay to Mars orbiters like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, until power levels declined due to dust accumulation on solar panels, leading to the mission's end on December 21, 2022.^[32] The Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), the mission's primary seismometer, was developed by the French Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) in collaboration with institutions including Imperial College London, the University of Oxford, and the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES).^[31] SEIS consists of two complementary sensors: a three-axis Very Broad Band (VBB) seismometer using inverted pendulums for low-frequency detection (0.01–5 Hz) and a three-axis Short Period (SP) seismometer with micromachined silicon transducers for higher frequencies (0.1–50 Hz).^[31] The VBB achieves a self-noise level below 5 × 10⁻¹⁰ m/s²/√Hz in the 0.1–1 Hz band, enabling detection of ground velocities as low as 10⁻⁹ m/s, while the SP provides sensitivity around 0.1–0.2 ng/√Hz.^[31] These sensors are housed in a sensor assembly tethered to the lander's electronics box, with continuous data sampled at 2 samples per second and event data up to 100 samples per second across 137 channels.^[31] The sensor assembly was positioned in December 2018 using the lander's Instrument Deployment Arm (IDA), a robotic manipulator that placed it approximately 1.5 meters from the lander deck onto the Martian surface; the Wind and Thermal Shield (WTS) was deployed over the sensors in March 2019.^[33]^[34] The assembly's leveling system, with three titanium legs and spikes, ensured stability on slopes up to 15°, penetrating the regolith by about 20 mm for coupling without deeper burial.^[31] A 72 cm diameter Wind and Thermal Shield (WTS) dome was then placed over the sensors to mitigate noise from wind turbulence, thermal effects, and magnetic interference, reducing environmental noise by factors of 10–20 in key frequency bands.^[31] During its operational lifetime, SEIS recorded over 1,300 marsquakes, ranging from magnitude 1 to 4, alongside continuous monitoring of planetary background vibrations.^[35] Calibration of SEIS involved both pre-launch testing and in-situ methods to verify instrument response and site coupling.^[31] On Mars, active sources included vibrations from the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP³) probe's hammering attempts, generating seismic signals for transfer function estimation, and orbital laser ranging from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for tilt and long-period calibration.^[36] Voice coil actuators within the VBB provided swept-sine waveforms during commissioning (sols 35–95) to measure sensitivity up to 50% of full scale, while cross-calibration between VBB and SP sensors ensured consistency across axes.^[31] Seasonal pressure decorrelation and thermal tuning further minimized noise, confirming SEIS's performance met or exceeded requirements for detecting weak seismic events.^[31]

Observed Events

Natural Marsquakes

The InSight mission's Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument detected a total of 1,318 seismic events on Mars by December 2022, with 735 classified as high-confidence marsquakes based on waveform quality and phase identification.^[37]^[38] These events spanned magnitudes from approximately 1 to 4.7, significantly lower than most terrestrial earthquakes but indicative of Mars's thinner crust and lower tectonic stress. Epicenters for the majority of well-located events clustered in the Cerberus Fossae region, a volcanically influenced graben system in Mars's eastern hemisphere, suggesting localized seismic activity tied to faulting in this area.^[39]^[38] Among the detected marsquakes, several stood out for their size and characteristics. The largest recorded was S1222a, a magnitude 4.7 event on May 4, 2022 (sol 1222), which produced clear body and surface waves detectable over vast distances and originated outside the primary Cerberus Fossae cluster, potentially from a distinct fault system.^[39] Groups of repeating events, or "families," were identified, particularly among high-frequency marsquakes, implying persistent stress accumulation and release along active faults in Cerberus Fossae.^[40] Some events traced to distant sources, with epicentral distances exceeding 7,000 km, allowing for teleseismic analysis akin to Earth's global seismic network.^[41] Marsquakes were classified into categories based on frequency content and inferred mechanisms: tectonic events driven by stress release along faults, impact-related quakes from meteoroid strikes forming shallow craters, and potential glacial quakes involving ice movement or cryoseismicity in polar regions.^[38] Estimated event rates for magnitudes above 2–3 ranged from 46 to 100 per Martian year, with higher rates for smaller, high-frequency events and seasonal variations influenced by atmospheric noise. Data processing involved advanced techniques such as beamforming to enhance signal directionality and cross-correlation with orbital imagery from missions like Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to validate impacts and rule out noise.^[42]^[6]

Artificial Seismic Events

The Viking landers, which arrived on Mars in 1976, recorded seismic signals generated by various mission operations, including the deployment of the sampling arm and other mechanical activities. These lander-generated events produced high-amplitude signals with sudden onsets and decays, but their interpretation remained ambiguous due to the seismometer's placement on the lander deck, which resulted in poor ground coupling and significant contamination from wind-induced vibrations. The Viking seismometers, with a sensitivity of approximately 2 nm at 3 Hz, were about 10 times less sensitive than modern instruments, limiting clear detection of propagated waves and preventing reliable assessment of subsurface structure from these artificial sources.^[26] No dedicated active source seismic experiments, such as thruster firings or pyrotechnic detonations for calibration, were successfully utilized post-deployment on Viking due to the instrument's limitations and the mission's primary focus on passive monitoring; any potential signals from landing sequence pyrotechnics occurred before the seismometer was uncaged and operational.^[43] The InSight mission (2018–2022) marked the first deliberate use of an artificial seismic source on Mars through the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP³), or "mole," which employed a hammering mechanism to penetrate the regolith from July 2019 to January 2021. This device generated over 10,000 hammering strokes, each producing micro-quakes with high-frequency seismic signals (up to several kHz) that were captured by the onboard Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument. These controlled events enabled precise local calibration of SEIS and yielded measurements of shallow regolith properties, including P-wave velocities ranging from 98 to 163 m/s and S-wave velocities from 56 to 74 m/s in the top ~30 cm, with a detection radius limited to about 100 m due to signal attenuation in the loose soil.^[44]^[45] Unlike natural marsquakes, these artificial signals were readily distinguished by their known timing, exact source location at the lander site, and repetitive nature, providing essential ground truth for validating seismic wave propagation models in the near-surface regolith. Following Viking, no explosive devices or intentional artificial impacts have been deployed on Mars, as planetary protection protocols—governed by COSPAR guidelines—prohibit such releases to prevent forward contamination with Earth microbes, shifting reliance to natural meteorite impacts as uncontrolled proxies for impact seismology while emphasizing their non-artificial origins.^[46]^[47]

Scientific Implications

Insights into Martian Interior

Analysis of marsquake data from the InSight mission's SEIS instrument has provided the first direct seismic constraints on Mars' interior structure, revealing a layered composition distinct from Earth's. The planet's core consists of a solid inner core with a radius of approximately 613 ± 67 km, surrounded by a liquid outer core of iron alloy extending to a total radius of about 1,799 ± 66 km, determined through the detection of seismic phases such as PKiKP and PKKP reflecting off core boundaries and the absence of direct S-waves in a shadow zone beyond epicentral distances of about 40° to 60°.^[9] This shadow zone arises because S-waves cannot propagate through the liquid outer core, limiting detections to events within roughly 50° of the lander. The core's mean density is estimated at 5.7 to 6.3 g/cm³, indicating significant light elements such as sulfur or oxygen dissolved in the iron-nickel alloy, which lowers the density compared to pure iron models.^[48]^[49]^[48] The mantle and crust exhibit variations in thickness and seismic properties that reflect Mars' hemispheric dichotomy and thermal evolution. Crustal thickness at the InSight landing site in Elysium Planitia is locally about 20 to 50 km, with global averages ranging from 24 to 72 km, thicker in the southern highlands (up to ~60 km) and thinner in the northern lowlands (~30 km), constrained by travel-time inversions of body waves and integrated with gravity data.^[50] Upper mantle models show P-wave velocities (Vp) increasing from ~7 km/s near the Moho to 8 km/s at depths of 200-400 km, with S-wave velocities (Vs) exhibiting a low-velocity zone (decreasing to ~4 km/s) in the uppermost mantle, potentially due to partial melt, compositional heterogeneity, or hydration from ancient water-rock interactions. These velocity gradients, derived from 1D and preliminary 3D models of marsquake arrivals, suggest a single-layer mantle lacking a distinct upper-lower transition, with total planetary radius tightly constrained by the timing of core-transiting phases. Recent analysis indicates the mantle's heterogeneity includes a "lumpy" structure with scattered debris from ancient impactors, forming blobs up to 4 km across that alter seismic wave propagation, alongside remnants of ancient magmatic activity.^[1]^[50]^[49] In the crust, Vp ranges from 7 to 8 km/s and Vs from 4 to 5 km/s, indicating a basaltic composition with possible ice or porosity effects in shallow layers.^[50] Key insights from these seismic models highlight Mars' dynamo history and cooling dynamics. The absence of a current global magnetic dynamo is inferred from the planet's weak remnant field (less than 1% of Earth's), consistent with a cooled, non-convecting core unable to sustain fluid motions for field generation, as no toroidal field signatures appear in seismic data. The discovery of a solid inner core suggests ongoing inner core solidification, which may have contributed to the ancient dynamo's shutdown around 4 billion years ago by altering outer core convection. Evidence for an ancient core dynamo, active until about 4 billion years ago, comes from strong crustal remanent magnetization in southern highlands, imprinted during early volcanic activity when the field was comparable to Earth's present strength. Tomographic inversions using marsquake locations reveal Cerberus Fossae as a primary seismic hotspot, with over 50% of detected events originating there, implying ongoing localized convection or plume activity that influences mantle cooling and volatile distribution. These 3D models suggest a cooling history dominated by conductive heat loss in the mantle, with limited present-day convection compared to Earth, shaping Mars' stagnant lid regime.^[51]

Tectonic and Geological Activity

Mars lacks active plate tectonics, maintaining a rigid, single-plate lithosphere that contrasts with Earth's dynamic plate boundaries and results in predominantly localized deformation rather than widespread subduction or rifting.^[52]^[53] This tectonic regime features prominent fault systems such as Cerberus Fossae, a 1,200-km-long network of grabens east of the InSight landing site, formed through lithospheric flexure or stresses induced by ancient volcanism and ongoing magmatic processes that elevate local heat flow. Additionally, shrinkage wrinkles—manifesting as ridged plains across the southern highlands—stem from the planet's global cooling, which contracts the crust and generates compressional thrust faults.^[54]^[2] Observations from the InSight mission reveal that marsquakes signify continued but low-rate deformation, with over 1,300 events recorded between 2019 and 2022, most of low magnitude (typically below 4) and clustered in Cerberus Fossae, suggesting persistent stress accumulation from volcanic resurgence or flexural loading.^[35] These quakes may connect to broader stresses imposed by the Tharsis bulge, a massive volcanic province that has historically deformed the lithosphere through isostatic adjustment and radial extension.^[55] Notably, no significant marsquakes have originated from Valles Marineris, the vast equatorial canyon system, implying that its formation—likely tied to early Tharsis loading—does not currently drive substantial seismic activity.^[56] Marsquakes provide a window into surface geology by correlating with impact basins, where ancient collisions may have preconditioned faults for reactivation, and volcanic landforms such as lava tubes in regions like Tharsis, which could channel subsurface stresses.^[56] Seismic evidence also points to the role of subsurface ice in modulating quakes, as cryovolcanic processes or salt-induced expansion in icy regolith may trigger localized fracturing, particularly in mid-latitude terrains rich in frozen volatiles.^[57] These interactions highlight how near-surface hydrology influences tectonic expression on a cooling planet. The seismic record underscores Mars' evolutionary trajectory, marking a shift from vigorous tectonic activity in the Noachian era—when half of the planet's extensional features, including early Tharsis development, emerged amid widespread volcanism and impacts—to a largely dormant present with subdued deformation rates.^[58] This pattern of contraction-driven quakes mirrors the Moon's shallow moonquakes, which arise from global cooling and crustal shrinkage rather than plate motion, offering comparative insights into the end stages of planetary cooling.^[59]^[60]

Future Research

Ongoing Data Analysis

Following the end of the InSight mission in December 2022, the full seismic dataset has been progressively archived and made publicly available through NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS) starting in 2023, with Release 18 including updated SEIS data and catalogs by late that year.^[61] This archive encompasses over 1,300 confirmed marsquakes from the mission's four-year operation, with ongoing refinements using machine learning algorithms to detect over 1,300 events, including low-amplitude signals.^[35] Deep learning models, such as convolutional neural networks trained on InSight waveforms, have improved event identification by automating the classification of seismic signals amid variable noise, achieving detection thresholds below previously manual limits and enabling comprehensive reanalysis of the entire dataset.^[42] Recent studies from 2024 and 2025 have leveraged artificial intelligence to refine epicenter locations of known marsquakes, incorporating orbital imagery and seismic waveform correlations to achieve sub-degree accuracy in epicentral distance estimates. For instance, machine learning-driven crater identification has relocated impact-related events, revealing propagation paths that extend deeper into the mantle than initially modeled.^[62] Concurrently, analyses of low-frequency marsquakes (below 0.5 Hz) have identified clusters potentially originating from deep mantle sources, with 2025 research mapping a new seismicity zone in Hesperia Planum linked to compressional structures and suggesting heterogeneous mantle composition influences wave propagation.^[63] These events, characterized by dominant long-period body waves, provide constraints on mid-mantle discontinuities at depths of 800–1,200 km.^[64] Ongoing data processing continues to address challenges from environmental noise, including microseismic signals induced by dust devils—vortex-like winds that generate surface vibrations detectable in the 10–50 Hz band—and diurnal thermal tides that produce broadband seismic harmonics up to order 24 and beyond.^[65]^[66] Mitigation strategies involve spectral filtering and correlation techniques to isolate tectonic signals, while hybrid geophysical models integrate InSight seismic data with gravity measurements from orbiters like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to refine crustal thickness variations and mantle density profiles, enhancing interpretations of quake depths.^[67] International collaborative efforts, led by teams from NASA, the French space agency CNES, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), have driven these advancements through joint publications in high-impact journals. For example, 2025 studies in Science and Geophysical Research Letters detail mantle heterogeneities and impact detections, attributing kilometer-scale lumps in the mantle to ancient impacts.^[68]^[62] Updates on quake families, including low-frequency and very high-frequency nests, highlight repeating waveforms from localized sources at 20–30° epicentral distances, supporting active tectonic zones in Cerberus Fossae and beyond.^[35]

Upcoming Missions and Prospects

The Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey for 2023–2032 has highlighted proposals for advancing Mars seismology through a global geophysical network, building on the limitations of InSight's single-station observations. White papers submitted to the survey advocate for a "mothership" concept that deploys a distributed array of seismic sensors to map the planet's internal structure and seismicity more comprehensively. Such a network would enable detection of seismic phases across broader distances, providing insights into crustal thickness variations and mantle dynamics that a solitary instrument cannot resolve.^[69] A recommended configuration involves 4–6 seismometers strategically placed to achieve global coverage, combined with complementary instruments like heat flow probes and magnetometers for multi-disciplinary analysis. This setup would address key gaps in understanding Mars' thermal evolution and potential for past habitability by capturing a fuller spectrum of marsquake events, including low-frequency signals sensitive to deep interior processes. Challenges to implementation include reliable power generation, primarily via solar arrays susceptible to dust accumulation, and efficient data transmission through UHF relays to orbiting spacecraft or direct X-band links to Earth, with total data volumes projected under 40 gigabytes over a Mars year.^[70]^[71] The Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign, with launches planned for the late 2020s or early 2030s under ongoing replanning as of 2025, represents another avenue for localized seismic opportunities during sample retrieval operations. While the primary fetch rover focuses on collecting cached samples from Perseverance, mission planners are exploring integration of compact geophysical sensors to monitor micro-seismic activity near key sites, aiding in real-time assessment of ground stability during rover maneuvers.^[72]^[73] Looking toward human exploration, long-term prospects emphasize establishing real-time seismic monitoring networks to evaluate hazards like fault reactivation or impact risks at prospective landing zones. Enhanced orbital capabilities, such as those enabled by larger payloads from vehicles like SpaceX's Starship, could facilitate deployment of extensive sensor arrays starting in the 2030s. Integrating seismic data with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) observations from future orbiters would allow correlation of subsurface shaking with surface deformation patterns, improving models of tectonic activity for safe human habitats.^[74]^[75]

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**Summary of SEIS Deployment and Mission Details from https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/insight/**
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SEIS: Insight's Seismic Experiment for Internal Structure of Mars
Jan 28, 2019 · InSight will deploy onto Mars' surface the SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Internal Structure) instrument; a six-axes seismometer equipped with both a long-period ...
[31]
NASA Mars Orbiter Spots Retired InSight Lander to Study Dust ...
Dec 16, 2024 · NASA retired InSight in December 2022, after the lander ran out of power and stopped communicating with Earth during its extended mission. But ...Missing: buildup | Show results with:buildup
[32]
Deployment and surface operations of the SEIS instrument onboard ...
This paper will describe the operations of the SEIS experiment on Mars since landing, as well as the challenges of operating this instrument.
[33]
Detection of Marsquake Nests in InSight Data - Garcia - AGU Journals
Jul 25, 2025 · The seismometer of the InSight NASA discovery mission recorded more than 1,300 seismic events on Mars, grouped into different families ...
[34]
NASA's InSight Lander Detects Stunning Meteoroid Impact on Mars
Nov 10, 2022 · Since landing in November 2018, InSight has detected 1,318 marsquakes, including several caused by smaller meteoroid impacts. But the quake ...Missing: 735 | Show results with:735
[35]
Seismic sources of InSight marsquakes and seismotectonic context ...
Aug 20, 2022 · The recorded seismic data have shown that Mars is seismically active with more than 900 “marsquakes” detected in the v9 catalog released by the ...
[36]
S1222a—The Largest Marsquake Detected by InSight - AGU Journals
Dec 14, 2022 · InSight detected on 4 May 2022 a 4.7 marsquake, S1222a, which is the largest seismic event detected so far The exceptional signal-to-noise ...
[37]
Repetitive marsquakes in Martian upper mantle - PMC - NIH
Mar 30, 2022 · However, the Martian seismic data recorded by InSight have a low signal-to-noise ratio, making the identification of marsquakes challenging.
[38]
[PDF] The Far Side of Mars: Two Distant Marsquakes Detected by InSight
Apr 25, 2022 · S, but they have longer than normal coda durations, suggesting that they are more distant than the well-located events (Clinton et al., 2021) ...Missing: drier | Show results with:drier<|separator|>
[39]
Detection of Marsquakes on InSight data using deep learning
The data set encompasses a wide range of earthquake magnitudes, from −0.7 to 7.9, with a predominance of small-scale earthquakes (i.e. magnitude less than 2.5).
[40]
Viking & The First Seismometers on Mars | Drew Ex Machina
Nov 21, 2018 · NASA's Viking mission to Mars in 1976 and its first-of-its-kind in situ search for life on another planet immediately comes to mind.
[41]
The InSight HP3 Penetrator (Mole) on Mars: Soil Properties Derived ...
The hammerings of the mole were recorded by the seismometer SEIS and the signals were used to derive P-wave and S-wave velocities representative of the topmost ...
[42]
The first active seismic experiment on Mars to characterize the ...
The mole hammering generates seismic signals that are recorded by SEIS and can be used to image the shallow subsurface just below the landing site. Even though ...
[43]
Planetary Protection - Office of Safety and Mission Assurance - NASA
Planetary Protection protects solar system bodies from contamination by Earth life and protecting Earth from possible life forms that may be returned.Planetary Protection Workshop · SMD Workshop · Home (nasa.gov) · Agenda
[44]
Planetary protection: How to explore Mars and other worlds ...
Aug 24, 2021 · Planetary protection means protecting other worlds from Earthly microbes and containing possible microbes that sample return missions might bring back to Earth.
[45]
Seismic detection of the martian core | Science
Jul 23, 2021 · The core of Mars is liquid and large, ∼1830 kilometers, which means that the mantle has only one rocky layer rather than two like the Earth has.Missing: shadowing | Show results with:shadowing
[46]
Upper mantle structure of Mars from InSight seismic data - Science
Jul 23, 2021 · This sequence provides tentative observational evidence for a weak S-wave shadow zone in the ~40° to 59° epicentral distance range. We compared ...
[47]
Thickness and structure of the martian crust from InSight seismic data
Jul 23, 2021 · Mars likely has a 24- to 72-kilometer-thick crust with a very deep lithosphere close to 500 kilometers. Similar to the Earth, a low-velocity ...
[48]
Mapping the Seismicity of Mars With InSight - Ceylan - AGU Journals
Aug 7, 2023 · ... S-wave shadow zone alone cannot explain the lack of S-waves. The low S-wave amplitudes could be caused by geometrical spreading due to ...
[49]
NASA's InSight Reveals the Deep Interior of Mars
Jul 22, 2021 · Three papers based on the seismometer's data were published today in Science, providing details on the depth and composition of Mars' crust, mantle, and core.Missing: 20-50 hemisphere
[50]
NASA's InSight mission on Mars—first glimpses of the planet's ...
Mar 19, 2020 · NASA's InSight mission is the first lander to deploy a seismometer on a planetary body since more than 40 years.Missing: definition | Show results with:definition
[51]
The tectonic architecture of wrinkle ridges on Mars - ScienceDirect
Nov 15, 2020 · Martian wrinkle ridges provide an important tectonic record of strain related to the global cooling and contraction posited to have dominated ...Missing: shrinkage | Show results with:shrinkage
[52]
A record of ancient tectonic stress on Mars - European Space Agency
Nov 3, 2016 · As the Tharsis region swelled with hot material rising from deep inside Mars as the volcanoes formed, it stretched and pulled apart the crust ...
[53]
Marsquake Locations and 1‐D Seismic Models for Mars From ...
Sep 7, 2022 · We found that most of these marsquakes occurred at depths shallower than 40 km, and are located in the Cerberus Fossae region. There are faults ...
[54]
Martian subsurface cryosalt expansion and collapse as trigger for ...
Feb 3, 2021 · Our results demonstrate that interactions of sulfates and chlorine salts in fine-grained soils on Mars could absorb water, expand, deliquesce, cause subsidence ...
[55]
Mars as a time machine to Precambrian Earth - Lyell Collection
Here, we first review what Mars has taught us about volcanic, tectonic and metamorphic processes in the absence of discrete plates.
[56]
Nasa's InSight probe senses hundreds of 'Marsquakes' - BBC
Feb 24, 2020 · Instead, much of the quake behaviour on the Red Planet is likely the result of cooling and contraction. As Mars loses heat, it shrinks and its ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[57]
Moonquakes and marsquakes: How we peer inside other worlds
Aug 10, 2020 · Marsquakes are produced not by tidal interactions, but by the planet cooling and contracting, producing deep stresses. Meteoroid impacts are ...
[58]
PDS Geosciences Node Data and Services: InSight Mission
September 29, 2023. InSight Release 18 includes new IDA video and calibration collections. Revised SEIS data will be released in the next few days. The InSight ...Missing: Marsquake | Show results with:Marsquake
[59]
New Impacts on Mars: Systematic Identification and Association With ...
Feb 3, 2025 · Key Points · A machine learning-enabled approach identifies 123 impacts near the InSight lander that likely happened during seismic monitoring.1 Introduction · 2 Materials, Data, And... · 5 Discussion And...
[60]
Global Distribution of Low Frequency Family Marsquakes From ...
May 26, 2025 · As a result, we have further improved the localization of marsquakes by relocating 56 events, including seven Quality C events with epicentral ...
[61]
Constraints on Midmantle Discontinuities in Mars from Analysis of ...
Jun 3, 2025 · We reanalyzed the entire InSight seismic data set for marsquakes and impacts that have interacted with the Martian midmantle seismic ...
[62]
[PDF] Monitoring of Dust Devil Tracks Around the InSight Landing Site ...
The systematic analysis of dust devil tracks is useful to have a better understanding of atmospheric and aeolian activity around InSight. Plain Language Summary ...
[63]
High‐Order Harmonics of Thermal Tides Observed in the ...
Apr 16, 2024 · We investigate thermal tides on Mars and we find harmonics even beyond the number 24, which exceeds significantly the number of harmonics previously reported ...Missing: seismic | Show results with:seismic
[64]
[PDF] Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations ... - PDS/PPI
Sep 28, 2023 · Example: urn:nasa:pds:insight-ifg-mars-newcal:data-ifg-raw. Since the ... The IFG calibrated 20hz MAVEN flyover data are directly linked to the ...
[65]
Seismic evidence for a highly heterogeneous martian mantle - Science
Aug 28, 2025 · We report the discovery of kilometer-scale heterogeneities throughout Mars' mantle, detected seismically through pronounced wavefront distortion ...
[66]
[PDF] White Paper
Sep 15, 2020 · Planetary Science Decadal Survey 2023-2032. Topic: Technology ... A global “mothership” deploys a network of seismic sensors to map internal ...
[67]
[PDF] Seismology in the Solar System - arXiv
Jun 7, 2022 · A global network of. 4-6 seismometers, combined with other geophysical sensors could observe the full global seismicity, seismic phases over ...
[68]
Seismology in the solar system - ScienceDirect.com
This article reviews possible scientific goals of seismic measurements on the major bodies of the solar system.
[69]
NASA to explore two landing options for returning samples from Mars
Jan 8, 2025 · NASA announced Tuesday a new approach to its Mars Sample Return Program. The agency will simultaneously pursue two landing architectures, or strategic plans.Missing: seismic | Show results with:seismic
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https://arxiv.org/pdf/2206.01785
[71]
Starship - SpaceX
Starship cargo flights to the Martian surface for research, development, and exploratory missions start in 2030, at a rate of $100 million per metric ton. For ...
[72]
Imaging Radar Interferometry for the Exploration of Mars
InSAR data derived from orbital time-lapse imaging have been used to create meter-scale topographic maps and millimeter-scale deformation measurements (e.g. ...