For the first time, NASA has detected seismic waves traveling through the center of Mars, caused by several meteorite strikes on the red planet, providing the space agency the clearest look ever at the planet’s core.
NASA shared in a press release that the InSight lander collected data on two seismic waves in 2021, which has given more insight into the Martian core than ever before.
The seismic waves were caused by a series of meteor strikes on the Martian surface throughout the last four years. Scientists have been able to use the lander’s data to determine that the core of the planet is a liquid iron alloy, with other elements like sulfur, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen present.
NASA noted that the core is “smaller and denser than previously thought.”
Understanding the planet’s core will help scientists learn more about how rocky planets like Mars and Earth form, how they differ, and the factors that make ours habitable for life.
The InSight lander was retired on Mars in December, but the data from its seismometer is expected to be examined for decades to come.
The findings from the rover were detailed in a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. The meteor strikes originated on the opposite side of the planet from the lander, which scientists say is perfect as “the farther a quake happens from InSight, the deeper into the planet its seismic waves can travel before being detected.”
The lead author of the paper, Jessica Irving, an Earth scientist at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, shared a statement in NASA’s press release, noting that luck was needed in finding the quakes.
“Farside quakes are intrinsically harder to detect because a great deal of energy is lost or diverted away as seismic waves travel through the planet,” Irving said.
The data from InSight has created a repeat in history, as Vedran Lekic, associate professor of geology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and one of the coauthors of the study, shared that seismic data was the same thing used to discover Earth’s core more than 100 years ago.
“In 1906, scientists first discovered the Earth’s core by observing how seismic waves from earthquakes were affected by traveling through it,” Lekic said in a statement. “More than a hundred years later, we’re applying our knowledge of seismic waves to Mars. With InSight, we’re finally discovering what’s at the center of Mars and what makes Mars so similar yet distinct from Earth.”
Related
Related
