NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity tools are quite famous. Insight, which is at least as important as these vehicles with its various researches on Mars, also carries out remarkable studies on the red planet. The spacecraft, which revealed how Mars was shaken by earthquakes, reached important data. With the help of Insight, researchers have identified the two largest earthquakes to occur on Mars.
One of the earthquakes lasted 94 minutes!
Research published in The Seismic Record reveals how earthquakes on Mars are detected by looking at Insight data. The first of these earthquakes occurred on August 25, 2021, while the other occurred on September 18.
These two earthquakes differ from other earthquakes with some features. These earthquakes stand out primarily as they are the largest Martian earthquakes detected to date. In addition, the mentioned earthquakes draw attention as they occur at a much deeper level than previous tremors.
It is stated that the magnitude of the August earthquake, named S0976a, is 4.2. The September earthquake, called S1000a, was 4.1 magnitude. These numbers don’t sound that big at first, but we have to say that these earthquakes are five times bigger than the previously detected tremors.
It is stated that the first of the earthquakes lasted a few seconds. On the other hand, it was announced that the second earthquake continued for an unbelievable time of 94 minutes. This tremor is also the longest earthquake ever recorded. The jolt also has an unusually wide frequency. Accordingly, earthquake energy includes frequencies between 0.1 Hz and 5 Hz.
NASA has been working on Mars for a while. Do you think humanity’s next stop will be Mars? You can share your views with us in the comments section or on the SDN Forum.