MARSQUAKE
– SCI & TECH
News: Scientists surprised by source of
largest quake detected on Mars
What's
in the news?
●
NASA's
InSight lander detected the largest quake yet recorded
on Mars, one with a 4.7 magnitude - fairly modest by Earth standards but strong
for our planetary neighbour.
Key
takeaways:
●
The quake was caused by tectonic activity - rumbling in the
planet's interior and giving them a deeper understanding about what makes Mars
shake, rattle and roll.
Marsquake:
●
A marsquake is a quake which, much like an
earthquake, would be a shaking of the
surface or interior of the planet Mars.
●
It happens as a result of the sudden
release of energy in the planet’s interior, such as the result of Plate
tectonics, which most quakes on Earth originate from or possibly from hotspots
such as Olympus Mons or the Tharsis Montes.
●
On Earth, quakes are caused by shifts in
tectonic plates. Mars, however, does not have tectonic plates and its crust is
a giant plate.
●
As
marsquakes aren’t typically as violent as earthquakes,
they’re more difficult to detect and other vibrations – from the wind, for
example – can interfere with readings.
Significance
of Detection:
●
The detection and analysis of marsquakes
could be informative to probing the interior structure of Mars, as well as
identifying whether any of Mars’s many volcanoes continue to be volcanically
active.
Go
back to basics:
Mars:
●
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, takes its name from the Roman God of war.
●
It is often referred to as the "Red Planet" due to its
distinctive reddish appearance. This reddish colouration is primarily
attributed to the presence of a significant amount of iron oxide, commonly
known as rust, in its surface rocks and soil.
●
Mars is almost half the size of Earth and
has a diameter of 6,791 kilometres, making it the second smallest planet in our
solar system after Mercury.
●
It is home to the moons Phobos and Deimos.
●
Because of its considerable distance from
the sun, the planet experiences extreme cold, with equatorial temperatures
reaching 20°C and polar parts reaching as low as -140°C.
●
The
tallest volcano in our solar system, Olympus Mons, is located on Mars
and is about three times higher than Mount Everest.
●
Due to its extended orbit around the Sun,
a Martian year lasts about twice as long as an Earth Day, lasting 687 Earth
days. A Martian day is 24 hours and 37 minutes, somewhat longer than an Earth
Day.
●
The plane of Mars orbit around the Sun is
skewed by 25 degrees on its axis of rotation. This is comparable to Earth's
23.4-degree axial tilt.
●
Although the seasons on Mars are different
from those on Earth, they stay longer.
Missions
Sent to Mars:
●
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan (2013).
●
Tianwen-1
- China's Mars Mission (2021).
●
ExoMars
rover (2021) - European Space Agency.
●
UAE’s
Hope Mars Mission (UAE’s first-ever interplanetary mission)
(2021).
●
Mars
2 and Mars 3 (1971) - Soviet Union.