【】
Mars is alive. (Geologically.)
NASA recently reported that its InSight lander — sent to observe geologic activity beneath the Martian surface — recorded one of its biggest quakes yet on Sept. 18. The 4.2 temblor, a quake that would have been big enough for people to feel had it happened on Earth, lasted an hour-and-a-half.
NASA said the event was "one of the biggest, longest-lasting marsquakes the mission has ever detected."
The agency also noted that the 4.2 quake was the third "major" quake InSight has observed in the last month. Both a 4.2 and 4.1 magnitude quake hit on Aug. 25.
Tweet may have been deletedThe InSight lander's seismometer is covered by a protective dome.Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
InSight landed on Mars in Nov. 2018, so planetary scientists are still observing how geologically active Mars truly is. The solar-powered lander has observed hundreds of quakes, suggesting there might be volcanically active places in the Martian underground, perhaps hot molten rock (magma) moving and flowing like it does on Earth.
Though NASA researchers are still studying the recent September quake, they've found the August marsquakes occurred far off, much farther than where the other quakes originated in the plains of Cerberus Fossae.
"One especially intriguing possibility is Valles Marineris, the epically long canyon system that scars the Martian equator," wrote NASA. That's some 6,000 miles from InSight.
SEE ALSO:If a scary asteroid will actually strike Earth, here's how you'll knowNASA engineers used a clever strategy to keep the seismometer on and recording quakes in recent months. Mars' orbit has taken it farther from the sun, and dust had covered InSight's solar panels. This meant there was insufficient sunlight to power the entire machine. So NASA directed InSight's robotic arm to "trickle" sand near a solar panel, thinking wind would sweep sand granules over the panel and remove dust.
The plan worked. And InSight recorded some major Martian quakes.
Related video: Mars will kill you in ways you'd never imagine
相关文章
Twitter grants everyone access to quality filter for tweet notifications
Twitter introduced two features Thursday in an effort to give users more control on what notificatio2024-11-21- 每天下班回家,都有熱騰騰的香甜可口的飯菜在等你 ,你肯定會感到幸福。那麽 ,現在我就給大家傳授一下如何做剁椒豉油蒸豆腐這道菜 。1.豆腐切片整齊碼入盤中2.1入蒸鍋 ,水開後蒸5-7分鍾關火,將蒸好的豆腐裏多2024-11-21