The quake, which had a magnitude of 4.7 and caused vibrations to reverberate through Mars for at least six hours, was recorded by NASA’s InSight lander on May 4 2022. Because its seismic signal was similar to previous quakes known to be caused by meteoroid impacts, the team believed that this event (dubbed ‘S1222a’) might have been caused by an impact as well, and launched an international search for a fresh crater. For the first time, all missions in orbit around Mars collaborated on a single project — examining data from satellites orbiting Mars to look for a new crater, or any other tell-tale signature of an impact, such as a dust cloud appearing in the hours after the quake. After several months of searching, the team announced today that no fresh crater was found. They conclude that the event was instead caused by the release of enormous tectonic forces within Mars’ interior. The results (Geophysical Research Letters), indicate that the planet is much more seismically active than previously thought.
