Mars is strikingly dichotomous: lowlands (blue) dominate the northern hemisphere, highlands the southern hemisphere. (Image: MOLA Science Team)
Mars is strikingly dichotomous: lowlands ( blue ) dominate the northern hemisphere, highlands the southern hemisphere. (Image: MOLA Science Team) A strong quake in the last year of the NASA Mars InSight mission, enabled researchers at ETH Zurich to determine the global thickness and density of the planet's crust. On average, the Martian crust much thicker than the Earth's or the Moon's crust and the planet's main source of heat is radioactive. In May 2022, the Marsquake Service at ETH Zurich recorded the largest quake ever observed on another planet. This event, with an estimated magnitude of 4.6 was recorded on the surface of Mars by the seismometer deployed as part of the NASA Mars InSight mission. "This marsquake sent out strong seismic waves that traveled along the surface of Mars," says Doyeon Kim, a seismologist at the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zurich. Surface waves offer a global perspective .
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