Will missions to the Moon and Saturn's moon Titan is next target?
Given the similarity of its vibrational signal to previous tremors caused by meteorite impacts, the team initially suspected an impact source for this event and began a search through international space agencies for a new crater. Although Mars is smaller in data-size compared to Earth, it has a similar land surdata-face due to the absence of oceans. To survey the vast expanse of 144 million square kilometers, Dr. Benjamin Fernando sought help from the european Space Agency, the Chinese National Space Agency, the indian Space Research Organization and the United Arab Emirates Space Agency. This is the first project in which all Mars orbiting missions have collaborated in a single project.During the mission, InSight, co-designed by the university of Oxford, recorded at least eight Maersk Quake events caused by meteorite impacts. If S1222a had formed from the impact, the resulting crater would have been expected to be at least 300m in diameter. But, after several months of searching, the team had not found any new crater on Mars. The team concluded that the event was caused by the release of enormous tectonic forces within Mars' interior, suggesting that the planet is more vibrationally active than previously thought. "We still think that Mars has no active plate tectonics today, so this event may have been caused by a release of pressure within the Martian crust," said Dr. Fernando said.
The study's findings could have significant implications for future human habitation on Mars. "One day, this information may help us understand where it's safe for humans to live on Mars and where it's not!" Dr. Fernando said. international collaboration has highlighted the importance of having diverse instruments on Mars. S1222a will be one of the last events recorded by InSight before its mission ends in december 2022. The team is now applying knowledge from this study to future work, including upcoming missions to the moon and Saturn's moon Titan.