A marsquake is a vibration of the ground on Mars, and it can be caused either by stresses within the planet’s crust or by an object striking the surface. NASA’s InSight lander measured more than 1,300 seismic events during its mission. Those tiny vibrations helped researchers explore the crust, mantle and core without drilling into the planet.
What makes the ground shake on Mars?
Some marsquakes come from fractures slipping as the planet cools and its crust contracts. The Cerberus Fossae region has produced many well-located events. Other marsquakes begin when meteoroids hit Mars; orbital images can sometimes reveal a new crater at the matching location. They are not all the same type of event, and a small measured signal does not mean a person standing nearby would feel a dramatic earthquake.
How did InSight detect vibrations?
The stationary spacecraft placed a highly sensitive instrument called SEIS directly on the surface and covered it with a protective dome to reduce interference from wind and temperature changes. The photograph below shows the real deployed shield, not an artist’s rendering.
Seismic waves travel at different speeds through different materials. By comparing how waves arrived, scientists estimated properties of Mars’s layered interior. The signals also contain noise from winds and the lander itself, so researchers had to separate those effects before drawing conclusions.
What did we learn from the measurements?
NASA’s InSight science highlights describes more than 1,300 recorded seismic events and evidence about the crust, mantle and core. A 2025 study connected a freshly imaged 21.5-meter impact crater in Cerberus Fossae with a previously measured signal, changing assumptions about how seismic energy passes through the interior. A separate 2025 analysis used the data to infer unusual regions of material within the Martian mantle. These are interpretations of measurements, not direct pictures of the underground layers.
Are marsquakes still being recorded today?
InSight stopped operating in December 2022 after dust buildup reduced the power available from its solar panels. Scientists can still reanalyze its archived measurements and compare them with new orbital imagery, but the retired lander is no longer transmitting a live stream of marsquake data.
Frequently asked questions
Does Mars have moving tectonic plates like Earth?
Mars does not have the same active global system of moving plates that produces most large earthquakes on Earth. Its crust can still crack and shift, which generates marsquakes.
Can you hear a marsquake with your ears?
The ground vibrations measured by a seismometer are not ordinary sound recordings. Researchers can speed up and process the signals to make them audible for educational demonstrations; that is a sonification of scientific data.
Can a meteor impact cause a marsquake?
Yes. An impact can send seismic waves through the ground. InSight and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observations can be combined to link some signals with newly formed craters. Read NASA’s February 3, 2025 report or how researchers identify new Mars impact craters.
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