Overview on the NASA InSight Mission and Seismology Applied to Mars

Engineering Auditorium 406, Byblos campus

The Department of Natural Sciences is hosting a seminar titled: “Overview on the NASA InSight Mission and Seismology Applied to Mars” by Maria Saadé, Ph.D., Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris.

Abstract:

The NASA InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) mission will deploy a lander equipped with geophysical and meteorological sensors on the Martian surface (Banerdt et al., 2013), including two three-component ultra-sensitive seismometers (Lognonné et al., 2012). The goal of the mission is to study the interior structure of Mars, more precisely, (1) provide a one-dimensional model of Mars’ mantle and core as well as three-dimensional velocity model of the crust; and (2) measure the activity and distribution of seismic events on Mars, including both tectonic and impact seismicity (Banerdt et al., 2013). The InSight was launched on May 2018 and will land in November 2018, with nominal deployment for 1 Martian year, equivalent to roughly 2 Earth years. In advance of the mission, the InSight team seeks methodological advances and tests current single-station location approaches, and also raises awareness and level of preparation within the scientific community for the data that will arrive from Mars.

The speaker will be available after the seminar to talk to students about her career path and other space science questions.