We know there are many volcanoes on Mars… can Odyssey detect any signs of seismic activity???
Matt and Steve Loyola High School – Montreal ARC [Astronomy and Rocketry Club] ANSWER: Hi Matt and Steve, Good question, detection of seismic activity on Mars would begin to answer many questions about the planet. For example, we only know about the structure of the deep Earth (its core and mantle and such) by seismic studies and it would be great to have this for Mars. In order to get this information however you have to be on the surface, so Odyssey will not be able to detect seismic activity. We did try to get seismic data from the Viking landers (a small instrument located on the leg of the spacecraft), but only detected large wind gusts that shook the spacecraft. There are other missions in the works that specifically are going to study seismic activityso stay tuned.
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