Planetary Seismology: Nearly 3 years on Mars, and a return to the Moon

InSight has been recording seismic data on Mars nearly continuously since landing in November, 2018.  This mission has not been without challenges, including work to get the heat flow probe to depth, and a fight to keep energy going in the absence of dust cleaning through dust devils. In this time on the surface, we’ve observed hundreds of seismic events, which have let us determine key characteristics of the martian crust, mantle, and core. Meanwhile, NASA has recently selected a set of geophysical instruments, including the Farside Seismic Suite with instruments derived from InSight, to fly on a commercial lander to Schrödinger Crater on the far side of the Moon. This will be the first seismic data recorded anywhere on the Moon since the Apollo instruments were turned off in 1977, on the most sensitive seismometer ever to record on the Moon, and the first ever on the far side of the Moon.

Host: Doug Wiens

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