Mars InSight seismic spectra
Amplitude spectra from NASA's InSight lander on Mars, comparing three distinct seismic regimes. Quiet-section noise (blue, Sol 11) shows the instrument's baseline sensitivity, dominated by a broad resonance peak near 0.03 Hz. Wind noise (red, Sol 1) raises the broadband floor by roughly an order of magnitude across most frequencies. A candidate marsquake event (green, Sol 195) stands out between 0.02 and 0.1 Hz, exceeding both noise floors - the spectral signature that blind-test participants were trained to identify. Dashed lines mark diagnostic frequency bands used to distinguish genuine seismic signals from environmental noise, a key challenge given that Mars lacks the oceanic microseism that dominates Earth's ambient noise field.

Abstract

Benjamin Fernando, Kasra Hosseini and Maria Tsekhmistrenko describe how blind testing is helping to train martian seismologists. NASA’s InSight mission placed the first broadband seismometer on the surface of Mars, opening a new era of planetary seismology. But interpreting seismic signals on Mars poses unique challenges: the single-station configuration, unfamiliar noise environment, and absence of oceanic microseisms all differ fundamentally from terrestrial seismology. To prepare for these challenges, the InSight team organised a series of blind tests in which synthetic marsquake signals were injected into realistic noise and participants attempted to detect and characterise them. This article describes the blind-test exercise, the strategies developed by the Oxford team, and the lessons learned for identifying seismic events in an entirely new planetary environment.

Keywords: Mars, InSight, seismology, blind test, marsquake, planetary science