InSight's Sol 128 Seismic Event

This video and audio illustrates a seismic event detected by NASA's InSight on April 6, 2019, the 128th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Three distinct kinds of sounds can be heard, all of them detected as ground vibrations by the spacecraft's seismometer, called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS): There's noise from Martian wind; the seismic event itself; and the spacecraft's robotic arm as it moves to take pictures.

This event is the first likely marsquake recorded by the InSight team. Several other seismic events have been recorded but are much more ambiguous than this signal.

The audio underscores just how seismically noisy the Martian surface can be and was produced from two sets of sensors included with SEIS. You can hear sounds from the Very Broad Band sensors from your left speakers and sounds from the Short Period sensors from your right speakers. Audio from both sets of sensors have been sped up by a factor of 60; the actual vibrations on Mars would not have been audible to the human ear.

JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.

For more information about the mission, go to https://mars.nasa.gov/insight.