Listen: NASA records first suspected 'quake' on Mars
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has measured and recorded what it believes to be the first ever 'marsquake'.
The audio was recorded by Mars Insight Lander using it's Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument on April 6.
The faint seismic signal is the first trembling that appears to have come from inside the planet as opposed to external forces above the surface, such as wind.
Scientist are continuing to examine the cause.
InSight Principal Investigator Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said: “We’ve been collecting background noise up until now, but this first event officially kicks off a new field: Martian seismology!”
The 'quake' was too small to provide concrete date on the interior of the planet, which is one of InSight's main aims.
The surface of Mars is extremely quiet, allowing InSight to pick up faint rumbles, whereas Earth is 'quivering' constantly from seismic noise created by oceans and the weather, according to NASA.
SEIS team lead at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) Philippe Lognonné said: “We’ve been waiting months for a signal like this. It's so exciting to finally have proof that Mars is still seismically active.
"We're looking forward to sharing detailed results once we've had a chance to analyze them.”
While the moon and Mars do not have tectonic plates, responsible for quakes on earth, they still experience quakes caused by a continual process of cooling and contraction that creates a build-up of stress.
