Marsquakes point out a strong core for the purple planet, identical to Earth

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Scientists revealed this week that Mars’ innermost core seems to be a strong hunk of steel identical to Earth’s.

The Chinese-led analysis crew based mostly their findings on seismic readings from NASA’s InSight lander on Mars, which recorded greater than 1,300 marsquakes earlier than shutting down in 2022. The spacecraft landed on a broad plain close to Mars’ equator in 2018.

Previous research pointed to liquid on the coronary heart of the purple planet. The newest findings point out the inside core, whereas small, is certainly strong and surrounded by molten steel — a liquid outer core.

The Martian inside core extends from the planet’s heart out to a radius of about 380 miles, in line with the scientists whose findings appeared within the journal Nature.

It’s in all probability composed of iron and nickel, the identical substances as Earth’s core, however fairly probably additionally enriched with lighter components similar to oxygen.

Mars’ liquid outer core is greater, stretching from 380 miles to as a lot as 1,100 miles from the planet’s heart.

Crystallization of Mars’ inside core could have occurred previously and nonetheless be occurring right now, one of many lead investigators, Daoyuan Sun of the University of Science and Technology of China, mentioned in an e-mail.

Mars’ core initially would have been completely liquid. It’s unclear whether or not the liquid outer core comprises any strong materials similar to droplets or whether or not there is perhaps “a mushy zone” close to the boundary between the inside and outer cores, he added.

For their examine, Sun and his crew relied totally on 23 marsquakes recorded by InSight, all of them comparatively weak. The epicenters have been 740 miles to 1,465 miles away from the lander.

“Our results suggest that Mars has a solid inner core making up about one-fifth of the planet’s radius — roughly the same proportion as Earth’s inner core. However, this similarity may be just coincidental,” Sun mentioned.

While praising the outcomes, the University of Maryland’s Nicholas Schmerr, who was not concerned within the examine, mentioned questions concerning Mars’ core are removed from settled. With InSight out of motion, there will likely be no new recordings of marsquakes to additional reveal the purple planet’s insides, he famous.

“There are a lot of details about the exact shape of the inner core and composition of the inner and outer core of Mars that will require a network of InSight like seismometer stations to resolve,” Schmerr mentioned in an e-mail.

More detailed modeling is critical to develop a clearer image of how the inside core shaped and “what it reveals about the history of Mars’ magnetic field,” Sun mentioned.

At current, Mars lacks a magnetic area, probably due to the gradual crystallization of the planet’s strong core, Schmerr added.

Dunn writes for the Associated Press.