# @planetary_pan on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CNZiJx4saKi
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/33110780-planetary-pan-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/9b462ada9e.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-04-08T08:53:05.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Beth Johnson (@planetarypan) — https://gondola.cc/planetarypan

## Caption

NASA's InSight was launched in May 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base here in California. It took six months to get to Mars and landed on November 26. Upon landing, InSight had to unfurl all its solar panels, which are two fan-like discs on either side of the lander. Then all the other instruments had to be checked out and tested, pictures of the landing site were taken, and it took about ten weeks before the real science began.⠀
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One of those instruments is a seismometer named SEIS, for Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure because everything needs an acronym. Atop the instrument is a protective dome to spare the instrument the effects of wind and temperature. In the first year alone, SEIS detected more than 450 seismic signals, most of which were marsquakes. The largest of those was about a 4.0 in magnitude; interesting in and of itself, but not big enough to travel below the crust and into the mantle and core to give us any information about Mars’ interior.⠀
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We know that Mars doesn’t have tectonic plates like Earth, but it does have volcanically active regions, and those regions can cause marsquakes. During that first year of operations, InSight detected two quakes in the Cerberus Fossae region that measured 3.6 and 3.5. And just this past week, NASA announced that InSight detected two more strong quakes in the same region, measuring 3.3 and 3.1 magnitude. They’re still not big quakes, but they are very clear signals that lead scientists to believe that this region is a center for seismic activity on Mars. ⠀
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Read my full story: https://buff.ly/39P1Oqb⠀
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IMAGE: Artist’s concept of InSight lander on surface of Mars. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech⠀
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#nasa #nasainsight #mars #redplanet #lander #planetaryscience #planetaryexploration #marsquake #geology #tectonics #nasajpl #caltech #cosmoquest #cerberusfossae

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## Tags

planetaryexploration, lander, cosmoquest, redplanet, planetaryscience, nasajpl, cerberusfossae, nasa, marsquake, caltech, nasainsight, geology, tectonics, mars

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