
APRIL 6, 2019
First Likely Quake Detected on Another Planet
InSight
InSight, which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, is the first mission to study Mars' deep interior. After placing the first seismometer on another planet on Dec. 19, 2018 and detecting a number of seismic signals, InSight gathers data on what is likely the first quake ever observed on another planet on April 6, 2019. This first “marsquake” is very faint. But as InSight detects larger marsquakes in the future, scientists can use them to study Mars' deep interior. Understanding the interior structure of Mars can teach us how all rocky bodies in the Solar System are formed, including our home planet Earth and its Moon. When InSight blasted off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base on May 5, 2018, it was also the first interplanetary mission launched from the West Coast.