Scientists are considering the idea of deploying a fiber optic seismic network on the Moon to detect seismic events on the lunar surface, a report said. earth.com Citing a study by Wenbo Wu and colleagues at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
According to the report, the foundation stone builds on the legacy of the Apollo missions, which installed four seismometers on the Moon between 1969 and 1976. These seismometers captured thousands of seismic activities, revealing shallow and deep lunar earthquakes and meteorite impacts.
However, some questions remain unanswered, notably the lack of earthquakes found on the far side of the Moon and the detection of Moon earthquakes deep below the surface.
For this project, scientists have proposed a technology – Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). It will observe seismic activity on the Moon. “Using tiny imperfections in long fiber optic cables laid beneath the lunar regolith, DAS will transform these imperfections into a dense array of seismic sensors,” the report says.
It also says that a single cable can offer “thousands of individual sensors, which is unattainable by conventional methods.”
DAS technology is capable of capturing and analyzing seismic waves disturbed by lunar earthquakes. It will also provide a detailed view of the Moon’s internal machinations.
The efficacy of the method was proven through simulated seismograms derived from Apollo mission data, which successfully identified the SCS seismic wave phase.
In the study, scientists “proposed the concept of a fiber seismic network on the Moon and discussed its potential in overcoming challenges in imaging the Moon’s deep structures.”
“We compute lunar synthetic seismograms and evaluate the performance of DAS arrays of different configurations in retrieving hidden core reflected seismic phase SCS from strong scattered waves. “We found that, compared to a sparse conventional seismic network, a fiber seismic network using tens of kilometers of cable can dramatically increase the probability of observing clear SCS by array stacking,” the study said.
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Published: Feb 29, 2024, 05:59 PM IST
