“This earthquake is really going to be a treasure trove of scientific information when we get into it with our teeth,” Dr. Bannerdt said.
By listening to the echoes of seismic waves bouncing inside Mars, InSight has produced data that can be converted into 3D map of the planet.
The crust turned out to be thinner than expected and appeared to consist of three sub-layers. Seismic signals have also measured the size of the core: it is about 2,300 miles in diameter.
The seismometer revealed not only what’s below but also the dynamics in the air above. Winds blowing between 10 and 15 miles per hour over InSight’s solar panels caused the spacecraft to vibrate, and the spacecraft recorded the vibrations, which turned into sounds.
InSight’s other major instrument, a thermal probe that was supposed to hammer itself about 16 feet into Martian soil, failed to fully deploy.
Despite two years of efforts, the machine, nicknamed the “Mole,” rose no more than an inch below the surface. The soil they landed on tends to clump, a characteristic that differs from material encountered elsewhere on Mars. The agglomeration reduced the surface area of the dirt pressed against the sides of the mole, and due to insufficient friction, it was unable to knock itself down.
“It turns out that the particular soil that was under Insight, when we landed, had a cohesive layer of crusty soil on top of it,” Dr. Bannerdt said. “And that crust, the soil kind of disintegrated when the mole tried to break through.”