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About

V. Gharakanian is a leading planetary seismologist whose work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of the Martian interior. As a key contributor to NASA’s InSight mission, Gharakanian played a central role in the development and deployment of SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Internal Structure), the first seismometer ever placed directly on the surface of Mars. Their landmark 2019 paper detailing SEIS’s design and capabilities has garnered over 375 citations, serving as the foundational reference for the mission’s seismic discoveries. Through this work, Gharakanian helped transform Mars from a seismological blank slate into a world with measurable quakes, enabling the first direct constraints on the planet’s crust, mantle, and core. Their contributions have been instrumental in revealing that Mars is seismically active, with a lithosphere and interior structure far more complex than previously imagined. Gharakanian’s research continues to shape the next generation of planetary exploration, bridging the gap between instrument engineering and deep geophysical insight.