Planetary Seismology
Virtual Work Inspiration Trip
Who am I?
Dr. Anna Horleston
I am a planetary seismologist. A seismologist is someone who studies earthquakes, and a planetary seismologist is someone who studies earthquakes on other planets!
What sort of work do you do?
“I have performed field work, monitoring glaciers, volcanoes, subduction zones, passive basins and oil and gas drilling. My interests lie in seismic instrumentation, network management and data interpretation.”
What are you working on now?
“Having recently worked on the Environmental Monitoring Project for the Vale of Pickering and Lancashire, I have turned my focus off-world and am now working on the NASA InSight Mission to Mars.”
What’s InSight?
“InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a Mars Lander that launched on May 5th 2018, and arrived on Mars on November 26th 2018.
It is a geophysical experiment. This means it measures the earthquakes as well as the wind, pressure and temperature. The lander also has a probe that can hammer its way down into the Martian surface. We will be looking to determine the structure of Mars and improve our understanding of planetary formation.
If you like, you can go to the mission overview for more information.”