Listening for the Landing: Seismic Detections of Perseverance's Arrival at Mars With InSight
The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence of NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover will act as a seismic source of known temporal and spatial localization. We evaluate whether the signals produced by this event will be detectable by the InSight lander (3,452 km away), comparing expected sign...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP170102529 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90005 |
| _version_ | 1848765307803402240 |
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| author | Fernando, B. Wójcicka, N. Froment, M. Maguire, R. Stähler, S.C. Rolland, L. Collins, G.S. Karatekin, O. Larmat, C. Sansom, Ellie Teanby, N.A. Spiga, A. Karakostas, F. Leng, K. Nissen-Meyer, T. Kawamura, T. Giardini, D. Lognonné, P. Banerdt, B. Daubar, I.J. |
| author_facet | Fernando, B. Wójcicka, N. Froment, M. Maguire, R. Stähler, S.C. Rolland, L. Collins, G.S. Karatekin, O. Larmat, C. Sansom, Ellie Teanby, N.A. Spiga, A. Karakostas, F. Leng, K. Nissen-Meyer, T. Kawamura, T. Giardini, D. Lognonné, P. Banerdt, B. Daubar, I.J. |
| author_sort | Fernando, B. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence of NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover will act as a seismic source of known temporal and spatial localization. We evaluate whether the signals produced by this event will be detectable by the InSight lander (3,452 km away), comparing expected signal amplitudes to noise levels at the instrument. Modeling is undertaken to predict the propagation of the acoustic signal (purely in the atmosphere), the seismoacoustic signal (atmosphere-to-ground coupled), and the elastodynamic seismic signal (in the ground only). Our results suggest that the acoustic and seismoacoustic signals, produced by the atmospheric shock wave from the EDL, are unlikely to be detectable due to the pattern of winds in the martian atmosphere and the weak air-to-ground coupling, respectively. However, the elastodynamic seismic signal produced by the impact of the spacecraft's cruise balance masses on the surface may be detected by InSight. The upper and lower bounds on predicted ground velocity at InSight are 2.0 × 10−14 and 1.3 × 10−10 m s−1. The upper value is above the noise floor at the time of landing 40% of the time on average. The large range of possible values reflects uncertainties in the current understanding of impact-generated seismic waves and their subsequent propagation and attenuation through Mars. Uncertainty in the detectability also stems from the indeterminate instrument noise level at the time of this future event. A positive detection would be of enormous value in constraining the seismic properties of Mars, and in improving our understanding of impact-generated seismic waves. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:33:11Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-90005 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:33:11Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-900052023-02-06T01:16:27Z Listening for the Landing: Seismic Detections of Perseverance's Arrival at Mars With InSight Fernando, B. Wójcicka, N. Froment, M. Maguire, R. Stähler, S.C. Rolland, L. Collins, G.S. Karatekin, O. Larmat, C. Sansom, Ellie Teanby, N.A. Spiga, A. Karakostas, F. Leng, K. Nissen-Meyer, T. Kawamura, T. Giardini, D. Lognonné, P. Banerdt, B. Daubar, I.J. Science & Technology Physical Sciences Astronomy & Astrophysics Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Geology impacts InSight Mars seismoacoustics seismology COUPLED RAYLEIGH-WAVES VELOCITY METEOR FALL SEPTEMBER 15 IMPACTS EARTH ATMOSPHERE SCIENCE SEISMOGRAMS RECOVERY MISSION The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence of NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover will act as a seismic source of known temporal and spatial localization. We evaluate whether the signals produced by this event will be detectable by the InSight lander (3,452 km away), comparing expected signal amplitudes to noise levels at the instrument. Modeling is undertaken to predict the propagation of the acoustic signal (purely in the atmosphere), the seismoacoustic signal (atmosphere-to-ground coupled), and the elastodynamic seismic signal (in the ground only). Our results suggest that the acoustic and seismoacoustic signals, produced by the atmospheric shock wave from the EDL, are unlikely to be detectable due to the pattern of winds in the martian atmosphere and the weak air-to-ground coupling, respectively. However, the elastodynamic seismic signal produced by the impact of the spacecraft's cruise balance masses on the surface may be detected by InSight. The upper and lower bounds on predicted ground velocity at InSight are 2.0 × 10−14 and 1.3 × 10−10 m s−1. The upper value is above the noise floor at the time of landing 40% of the time on average. The large range of possible values reflects uncertainties in the current understanding of impact-generated seismic waves and their subsequent propagation and attenuation through Mars. Uncertainty in the detectability also stems from the indeterminate instrument noise level at the time of this future event. A positive detection would be of enormous value in constraining the seismic properties of Mars, and in improving our understanding of impact-generated seismic waves. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90005 10.1029/2020EA001585 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP170102529 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Physical Sciences Astronomy & Astrophysics Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Geology impacts InSight Mars seismoacoustics seismology COUPLED RAYLEIGH-WAVES VELOCITY METEOR FALL SEPTEMBER 15 IMPACTS EARTH ATMOSPHERE SCIENCE SEISMOGRAMS RECOVERY MISSION Fernando, B. Wójcicka, N. Froment, M. Maguire, R. Stähler, S.C. Rolland, L. Collins, G.S. Karatekin, O. Larmat, C. Sansom, Ellie Teanby, N.A. Spiga, A. Karakostas, F. Leng, K. Nissen-Meyer, T. Kawamura, T. Giardini, D. Lognonné, P. Banerdt, B. Daubar, I.J. Listening for the Landing: Seismic Detections of Perseverance's Arrival at Mars With InSight |
| title | Listening for the Landing: Seismic Detections of Perseverance's Arrival at Mars With InSight |
| title_full | Listening for the Landing: Seismic Detections of Perseverance's Arrival at Mars With InSight |
| title_fullStr | Listening for the Landing: Seismic Detections of Perseverance's Arrival at Mars With InSight |
| title_full_unstemmed | Listening for the Landing: Seismic Detections of Perseverance's Arrival at Mars With InSight |
| title_short | Listening for the Landing: Seismic Detections of Perseverance's Arrival at Mars With InSight |
| title_sort | listening for the landing: seismic detections of perseverance's arrival at mars with insight |
| topic | Science & Technology Physical Sciences Astronomy & Astrophysics Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Geology impacts InSight Mars seismoacoustics seismology COUPLED RAYLEIGH-WAVES VELOCITY METEOR FALL SEPTEMBER 15 IMPACTS EARTH ATMOSPHERE SCIENCE SEISMOGRAMS RECOVERY MISSION |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP170102529 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90005 |