NASA’s InSight later has felt its first ever tremor on the Red Planet, in what is thought to be a ‘Marsquake’. NASA has now released audio footage of the likely ‘Marsquake’. The audio begins with a gentle rumbling, which is likely the sound of wind on Mars. The rumbling sound then becomes faster and louder when the ‘Marsquake’ is detected.
Recorded earlier this month, the Mars InSight rover discovered the ‘Marsquake’ in what is the first ever trembling to come from the planet.
Such is the magnitude of the discovery that it has now created its own field which Bruce Banerdt, the expedition’s principal investigator, termed as “martian seismology”.
On Earth the sound would not have been discoverable but due to the silence on Mars, the probe’s instruments picked up the slightest tremors on the planet.
Philippe Lognonné, who leads the team’s seismometer for the experiment, said: “It is the first quake.
“We’ve been waiting for this for months.
“It’s so exciting to finally have proof that Mars is still seismically active.
“We’re looking forward to sharing detailed results once we’ve had a chance to analyse them.”
This new sound is the first to come from the inside of the planet as opposed to surface sounds caused by the wind.
Speaking following the discovery of the sounds, Mr Banert said: “We’ve been collecting background noise up until now, but this first event officially kicks off a new field: Martian seismology!”
Mr Longonné insisted that the discovery of such minor quakes at this point in the mission only bodes well for future findings.
He added: “We’re starting to have many small quakes.
“Hopefully we’ll have a super quake by the end.”
The InSight project will cost Nasa £633million ($814million) over two years, as the space agency aims to discover how the planet was formed and ultimately map out its internal core.
