NASA’s insight lander has been on Mars for years now, tracking any and all seismic activity on the red planet. The data it has provided has helped scientists figure out what’s going on under the Martian surface and the planet’s material composition. But now, according to researchers with ETH Zurich, that data could also now inform humanity on where to build a Mars settlement.
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00:00NASA's InSight lander has been on Mars for years now, tracking any and all seismic activity
00:08on the Red Planet.
00:09The data it has provided has helped scientists figure out what's going on under the Martian
00:13surface and the planet's material composition.
00:16But now, according to researchers with ETH Zurich, the data could also now inform humanity
00:21on where to build a Mars settlement.
00:23It all started with a 4.6 magnitude quake on Mars, one experts say traveled through
00:27the entirety of the planet.
00:29This let them know just how deep its crust goes, discovering Mars' crust is around
00:3326 to 35 miles thick, much thicker than Earth's, which is 9 to 12 miles thick.
00:38Now ETH Zurich seismologist Doyon Kim says this, along with other data about Mars, could
00:43help experts pinpoint exactly where the planned Martian base should be built.
00:47So what's the lowest latitude of the ice that we found, subsurface ice that we found?
00:55Where is the dominant seismicity?
00:59Where did the largest quake happen?
01:01And all this information I think is really key to select sort of the base, if you will,
01:08in the future.
01:09They say it's all about finding the sweet spot where both natural resources are available,
01:13for instance ice which can be turned into drinking water, but also finding an area with
01:16the least chance of having extreme Mars quake hazards.