{"id":44432,"date":"2023-04-25T08:05:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T08:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=118295"},"modified":"2023-04-25T08:32:31","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T08:32:31","slug":"mars-quakes-allow-scientists-to-determine-composition-of-red-planets-core","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/mars-quakes-allow-scientists-to-determine-composition-of-red-planets-core\/","title":{"rendered":"Mars quakes allow scientists to determine composition of Red Planet\u2019s core"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seismic analysis by NASA’s InSight lander team enables determination of Mars’s core composition. <\/p>

By Iain Todd\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 25 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Detections of seismic waves by NASA\u2019s InSight Mars lander have been used to determine the composition of the Red Planet\u2019s core.<\/p>\n

The results mark the first ever direct observations of another planet\u2019s core, and show just how important the InSight data could be to scientists over the coming years.<\/p>\n

On 25 August and 18 September 2021, two quakes occurred on the opposite side of Mars<\/a> from where the InSight lander<\/a> was situated, and these quakes have enabled planetary scientists to learn more about what\u2019s lurking beneath the Martian surface.<\/p>\n

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An artist\u2019s concept of NASA\u2019s InSight lander, which landed on the Red Planet on 26 November 2018, tasked with drilling down to explore what lies beneath the Red Planet\u2019s surface. Credit: IPGP\/Nicolas Sarter<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The location of the quakes was ideal, because the farther a quake happens from InSight, the deeper into the Martian subsurface the seismic waves travel before being detected.<\/p>\n

And because the two quakes occurred after the InSight mission had already been operating for 2 Earth years, the team of scientists that studies seismic waves detected by InSight \u2013 known as the Marsquake Service \u2013 had built up a wealth of data and experience, giving them a greater advantage when it came to analysing the data.<\/p>\n

As well as this, one of the impacts had been caused by a meteoroid impact and, according to NASA, impacts provide a precise location and more precise data for the scientists to work with.<\/p>\n

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NASA\u2019s InSight rolls rocks on the Red Planet. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

\u201cWe needed both luck and skill to find, and then use, these quakes\u201d says lead author Jessica Irving, an Earth scientist at the University of Bristol<\/a> in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarside quakes are intrinsically harder to detect because a great deal of energy is lost or diverted away as seismic waves travel through the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese two farside quakes were among the larger ones heard by InSight,\u201d says Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they hadn\u2019t been so big, we couldn\u2019t have detected them.\u201d<\/p>\n

What occurred is something quite remarkable. The scientists were able to to detect and analyse seismic waves that had actually traveled through Mars\u2019s core.<\/p>\n

The new paper, published on 24 April 2023 in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences<\/a>, finds that about a fifth of the Martian core is composed of elements such as sulphur, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen.<\/p>\n

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One of the last images taken by NASA\u2019s InSight Mars lander, captured on 11 December 2022, showing the lander\u2019s seismometer on the Red Planet\u2019s surface. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

\u201cDetermining the amount of these elements in a planetary core is important for understanding the conditions in our Solar System when planets were forming and how these conditions affected the planets that formed,\u201d says paper co-author Doyeon Kim of ETH Zurich<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As well as revealing the secrets of Mars, data like this from the InSight mission could help planetary scientists learn more about how rocky worlds like Earth and our Moon form.<\/p>\n

The InSight lander touched down on Mars in November 2018. After more than 4 years on the Red Planet, NASA declared the InSight mission officially retired in December 2022.<\/p>\n

The last time InSight communicated with the team back on Earth was 15 December 2022.<\/p>\n

Despite this, InSight leaves behind a treasure trove of data that will be analysed by planetary scientists for decades to come.<\/p>\n

Read the full paper at www.pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2217090120<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n