NASA scientists discover a 'highway' beneath the surface of Mars

Researchers have discovered seismic signals can reach deeper into Mars than previously anticipated, according to two new papers published in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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Scientists looked at how meteoroids hitting the surface of Mars can cause Marsquakes that vibrate through the various layers of the Red Planet. Using data from NASA's InSight Lander, a robotic lander designed to measure the seismic activity of Mars, and combining that with the data on a recent meteoroid impact, researchers discerned the seismic activity caused by the impact of the meteoroid traveled much deeper than previously anticipated.

Before this recent meteoroid impact, researchers believed Mars' layers had a dampening effect on seismic activity, resulting in seismic waves caused by meteoroid impacts only traveling so far. However, the recent impact crater in the Cerberus Fossae has busted that theory or at least revealed something more is at play. The Cerberus Fossae impact crater measured 71-foot-wide, and according to the studies, the seismic wave it produced took a more direct route to the planet's mantle, with one of the InSight team members describing Mars' interior as having some sort of "seismic highway" through to the mantle.

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InSight Lander

"We used to think the energy detected from the vast majority of seismic events was stuck traveling within the Martian crust. This finding shows a deeper, faster path - call it a seismic highway - through the mantle, allowing quakes to reach more distant regions of the planet," said InSight team member Constantinos Charalambous of Imperial College London

"We thought Cerberus Fossae produced lots of high-frequency seismic signals associated with internally generated quakes, but this suggests some of the activity does not originate there and could actually be from impacts instead," said Charalambous