Of the mission NASA InSight , currently on Mars , little has been said in general (especially with respect to the with rover). Despite the very interesting premises, the problems with the self-hammering probe undermined its complete success. In spite of everything, the information gathered by the other instruments has allowed us to have an increasingly precise picture of the Red Planet.

NASA InSight data after months on Mars

We remind you that NASA InSight arrived on Mars at the end of November 2018 and has since begun to gather information mainly on the internal structure of the planet. According to the space agency, in just over a year from the first phenomenon, more than Martian earthquakes (martemoti). But this mission is also like having a real weather station on Mars.

As remembered by NASA , Mars and Earth had many similarities. But around 3 billion years ago the two planets took “different paths” . A mission like NASA InSight therefore aims to understand what exactly happened and what are the differences between two realities (which are now very different).

The mysteries of the martemoti detected by the lander

Thanks to the seismometer many earthquakes were (the first in April 2019). All of them, however, had relatively modest magnitudes and at most 3.7 degrees. What intrigues scientists is the frequency of earthquakes in relation to the maximum detected magnitude. Why are there no earthquakes of magnitude 4 or higher? We don’t exactly know. One of the theories is that the detection period is particularly quiet and that in the future there could be more energetic phenomena.

It is also interesting to note how in a certain period the Martian earthquakes were detected. everyday. From June 2020 instead the phenomena have decreased since September 2020 so far only five earthquakes have been detected. One explanation could be the Martian wind that would disturb the detections (which was actually foreseen during the development of the mission). The seismometer is in fact very sensitive.

Another mystery is linked to the surface waves of the martemoti that have not been detected (unlike those on Earth). On the Red Planet there are only primary and secondary waves. The reason could be the presence of fractures in the first ones 01 km below NASA InSight or that the earthquakes detected so far are very deep, thus not causing surface waves. A mystery that could be revealed in the next few months of research.