Mars Seismology

Abstract

For the first time, from early 2019 to the end of 2022, Mars' shallow and deep interiors have been explored by seismology with the InSight mission. Thanks to the performances of its seismometers and the quality of their robotic installation on the ground, 1,319 seismic events have been detected, including about 90 marsquakes at teleseismic distances, with Mw from 2.5 to 4.7 and at least 6 impacts, the largest ones with craters larger than 130 m. A large fraction of these marsquakes occur in Cerberus Fossae, demonstrating active regional tectonics. Records of pressure-induced seismic noise and signals from the penetration of a heat flow probe have provided subsurface models below the lander. Deeper direct and secondary body wave phase travel time, receiver function, and surface wave analysis have provided the first interior models of Mars, including crustal thickness and crustal layering, mantle structure, thermal lithospheric thickness, and core radius and state. ▪With InSight's SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure of Mars) experiment and for the first time in planetary exploration, Mars' internal structure and seismicity are constrained. ▪More than 1,300 seismic events and seismic noise records enable the first comparative seismology studies together with Earth and lunar seismic data. ▪Inversion of seismic travel times and waveforms provided the first interior model of another terrestrial planet, down to the core. ▪Several impacts were also seismically recorded with their craters imaged from orbit, providing the first data on impact dynamic on Mars.