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Space Time
NASA’s Marsquake Recording Joins the Soundtrack of the Cosmos
Space is far from silent, and we can learn a lot if we know how to listen
Like many other planets in the solar system, Mars was once very geologically active. It had massive volcanoes and rivers and lakes of water. It may also have experienced internal quakes — marsquakes.
When NASA’s InSight lander touched base on Mars in November 2018, the spacecraft brought with it a suite of instruments to study the interior of the planet. One of these instruments is an extremely sensitive and custom-made seismometer called SEIS, which is used on Mars to detect any marsquakes taking place deep in the planet’s interior. Last week, NASA announced that the InSight team caught the first marsquake ever detected. The agency also released audio of the marsquake along with the announcement, following common practice for seismologists studying quakes here on Earth.
“Turning seismic signals into sound is just a different way of appreciating the seismic…
