WINDHOEK - Namibia’s very own Dr Japie van Zyl, a Solar System Exploration Director at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), has reliably informed this publication that last month they detected the first Mars quake.
The team’s robotic InSight Mars lander, successfully landed on planet Mars five months ago, with the aim to enhance scientific knowledge of space, including how the earth and the moon are formed. 

The theory they were trying to test was to see if any type of activity was happening on the planet, which proved to be just that in the form of a quake being recorded.

‘’It’s a great discovery for the mission as Mars is not quite dead as we had thought before. We are extremely proud to have discovered the quake as we sent this mission not knowing whether the planet has quakes and our theory proved to be correct,’’ he said.

The InSight lander placed a very sensitive seismometer on the surface of Mars to see if there is any evidence of seismic activity on Mars.  

The first such event was recorded in early April, confirming that Mars is indeed still active seismically. “Over time, if multiple such events happen, the InSight team will be able to build an accurate picture of the inside structure of Mars.  
This will help us explain why Mars and Earth look so very different today despite the fact that they formed around the same time,’’ he explained.

This is the first mission to study the deep interior of Mars, which blasted off from their base in central California in May 2018. 
After successfully landing on Mars in November, the team deployed the solar panels on the lander for them to get power. They then moved the instruments which were mounted on the deck of the rover, which has a robotic arm. 

The robotic arm carried them one by one off the rover and set them on the ground which has allowed them to take pictures of the surface of Mars to determine where to place them. He and his team continue to study the planet’s geological evolution system.