Groundbreaking Breakthrough: Scientists Reveal Mars’ Core Composition
After years of observing Mars’ core, scientists have made groundbreaking discoveries about its composition.
The seismic data that NASA’s Insight Lander has gathered revealed that Mars’ epicenter is a liquid iron alloy with significant amounts of oxygen and sulfur mixture. It is a combination that’s totally different from the Earth’s core.
Vedran Lekic, a geologist at the University of Maryland, stated that this seismic data helped scientists use their knowledge of seismic waves on Mars. It was similar to how the scientists first learned about the Earth’s core in 1906.
Back then, they used the earthquakes’ seismic waves to observe how they were affected by passing through them. These waves that marsquakes generate go outward from their place of origin.
In addition, they bounce around inside the red planet before stopping to quietness. The way they pass through and reflect on certain materials allowed scientists to formulate maps of the internal composition of Mars.
Research has uncovered amazing insights into the liquid core at the centre of Mars.
The study detected waves which travelled through the red planet, shedding new light on its origins and composition.
Find out more👉https://t.co/QfVCW4Jcp9#NASA #Mars #Marsquake pic.twitter.com/lpbEz2l0mQ
— University of Bristol (@BristolUni) April 25, 2023
How did the scientists study the composition of Mars’ core?
In the four years of InSight’s monitoring of Mars’ innards, it caught hundreds of marsquakes. This gives detailed information about the red planet’s interior.
Scientists have compiled the first Mars core map from this data set and discovered more about its inner activity status. Interestingly, its core is liquid all the way, with a high percentage of mixed lighter elements.
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The mixture is mostly sulfur, with smaller amounts of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. Almost a fifth of its weight is made up of these components.
What are the implications of this historic breakthrough for the future exploration of Mars?
This groundbreaking discovery is essential as it could help scientists better learn and understand the history of Mars. They will also know how it differs from Earth, a teeming and lush planet.
The red planet, on the other hand, is an arid, lifeless red dustball. Furthermore, it could improve our ability to search for life outside of Earth.
🔴 New findings using data from our @NASAInsight lander's seismometer reveal, for the first time, details about the deep interior of Mars.
What scientists learned about the depth and composition of the Red Planet's crust, mantle, and molten core: https://t.co/jF1tk7vtUq pic.twitter.com/bq5K9H74dT
— NASA (@NASA) July 22, 2021
Moreover, Mars and Earth have several similarities. Working out why and how they differ can aid scientists in narrowing down which outside worlds can hold life.
In addition, this major discovery can also help us learn about the different ways in which planets grow, form, and change over time. This is considering the similarities of its elements around the same star.
However, unlike Earth, Mars doesn’t have a magnetic field. This element helps keep Earth’s water and atmosphere from flowing into space and comes from the Earth’s core.
Heat travels from the inner core to the outer body. Then it generates moving currents that form into patterns under the planet’s rotation. Thus, creating and maintaining our planet’s magnetic field.
Previous research showed that the lighter elements that Mars’ core holds could have a crucial role in killing its magnetic field. Scientists can reform Mars’ history more precisely with this new detailed discovery of what is inside the core.
According to Jessica Irving, a planetary scientist at Bristol University in the UK, “It’s like a puzzle in some ways. For example, there are small traces of hydrogen in Mars’ core.”
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She continued, “That means that there had to be certain conditions that allowed the hydrogen to be there, and we have to understand those conditions to understand how Mars evolved into the planet it is today.”
This research with state-of-the-art seismological processes and fresh results from mineral physicists was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
The breakthrough is a big step toward understanding the composition of Mars’ core and its difference from our planet’s core. It can further push forward the study of planets’ formation and evolution and the search for other life outside Earth.
