On its 1,000th sol on the Red Planet , NASA ’s InSight Mars lander commemorate one of the strongest and recollective marsquakes detected yet . The event , which fall out on   September 18 , had a order of magnitude of 4.2 and shook the ground for near 90 minutes . This is the third strong quake recorded in less than a month , with two more detected on August 25 with magnitudes of 4.2 and 4.1 . The detecting nearly did n’t happen at all due to more than a piffling dust .

The latest quake is over five prison term strong than theprevious record - holderdetected by InSight in 2019 , which came from a region known as Cerberus Fossae roughly 1,600 kilometers ( 1,000 mi ) away , where almost all the quake have been detected from so far . Details of the September marsquake are still being study , but the 4.2 magnitude effect from August 25 came from further abroad . Although its emplacement and direction have not been confirmed , the investigator know that it travel around 8,500 kilometer ( 5,280 miles ) . The order of magnitude 4.1 earthquake was also much closer to the lander . It originated just 925 kilometer ( 575 miles ) away .

These newfangled detection are a dream come true for planetary scientist . Just a few month ago , researchersrevealed the inside of Marsfor the first time using InSight ’s seismometers , but something still on the scientist ' wishlist was stronger quakes from different places on the planet . It search like Christmas come early on on Mars . Except it nearly did n’t fall out .

in the first place in the twelvemonth , as Mars ’s ovoid scope took it further from the Sun , lower temperatures meant the lander had to bank on its own heaters to stay functioning . On top of that , dust had pack up on its solar panels .   The commission expect the Martian hint to cleanse the panels , but they did n’t get much this year , and thepower on the lander started dropping . To keep up energy , it shut down some of its instruments . However , the team on Earth had a reasonably clever idea for how to pick the solar panels and keep the brightness level on for the seismometer .

Without the real twist , the team had to make their own . They used the robotic arm on InSight to pour out Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin near the solar panel , which was enough to embroil off the debris , clean the instrument panel and providing enough juice to keep the experiment running .

“ If we had n’t acted quickly earlier this year , we might have missed out on some expectant science , ” InSight ’s master research worker , Bruce Banerdt of NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , say   in astatement .   “ Even after more than two yr , Mars seems to have impart us something new with these two quake , which have unique characteristics . ”

Mars is strive the conjunction intend that it ’s on the polar side of the Sun with deference to Earth , which means we ca n’t speak to our machinelike explorers due to solar irradiation messing with the wireless signals . The squad will intercept supply commands on September 29 but later on they plan to do more debris cleanse to boost up the power , and as Mars is approaching the Sun again the power should juice back up .

Even without remote supervision , the seismometer will stay to keep an ear to the ground for potential fresh quake .