A pair of quakes in 2021 sent seismic waves deep into the Red Planet’s core that were captured by Insight, giving scientists the best data yet on its size and composition.
Insight was retired in December 2022 after it stopped responding to communications from Earth, following months of declining power due to Martian dust building up on its solar panels.
Scientists are still poring over the trove of data from its seismometer that were collected over its four years in operation.
The two quakes were the first identified by the InSight team to have originated on the opposite side of the planet from the lander – so-called 'farside quakes'. The distance proved crucial as the farther a quake happens from InSight, the deeper into the planet its seismic waves can travel before being detected.
The findings mark the first direct observations ever made of another planet’s core.
“We needed both luck and skill to find, and then use, these quakes,” said lead...