LOS ANGELES (ANTARA) – Data from NASA’s InSight lander provides the first-ever observations of seismic waves traveling through the Martian core.
Using seismic data collected by NASA’s InSight lander mission, scientists made the observations, according to a new study published Monday (24/4).
Mars has a molten iron alloy core at its center. By looking at the seismic waves detected by the InSight lander from some of the 2021 earthquakes, scientists can conclude that the liquid iron core on Mars is smaller and denser than previously thought.
This finding marks the first direct observation ever made of another planet’s core, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.
The two quakes, which occurred on August 25 and September 18 2021, came from opposite sides of where Insight is on the Red Planet, known as farside earthquakes.
“A farside quake is intrinsically more difficult to detect because a lot of energy is lost or diverted as the seismic waves travel through the planet,” said the study’s lead author Jessica Irving, an Earth scientist at the University of Bristol in England.
According to findings documented in the journal, about one-fifth of Mars’ core is made up of elements such as sulfur, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen.
The InSight lander launched in May 2018 to study the interior of Mars.
The probe landed without a hitch on the Red Planet in late November 2018. The lander ended its mission last December after more than four years of gathering unique science on Mars.
2023-04-26 13:55:39
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