Moonquakes: testament to lunar ordeal
- September 18, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Moonquakes: testament to lunar ordeal
Subject: Science and technology
Section: Space technology
What are Moonquakes?
- An earthquake is caused when tectonic plates shift. But quakes themselves aren’t restricted to the earth.
- Small tremors have also been detected on the moon. But they are not because of tectonic plates.
- Instead, the moon is groaning from extreme temperature differences– from 121o to -133ocelsius- of 250ocelsius. The resulting strain leads to seismic activities called the moonquakes.
- They can also occur due to meteors striking the lunar surface.
- Researchers found that the Apollo 17 lunar lander module, launched in 1972, may also have triggered some tremors.
Marsquakes and its cause:
- Mars does not have tectonic plates, and its crust is a giant plate.
- Marsquakes are caused due to stresses that cause rock fractures or faults in its crust.
- This Marsquake is estimated to have hit magnitude 5 on the scale used on Earth.