Studies provide more insight into the internal structure of Mars

Subject : Geography

Section: Physical geography

Context:

Mars’s liquid iron core is likely to be surrounded by a fully molten silicate layer, according to a pair of studies published in Nature.

About the study:

The InSight Mars Lander of NASA used an instrument called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) to record seismic waves passing through Mars’s interior. Data from three years of quakes in Mars, including two seismic events caused by meteorite impacts, were used for the study.

Study findings:

Its core is smaller and denser than previously proposed.
Presence of a large but low-density core, composed of liquid iron and lighter elements such as sulphur, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen.
The core has a higher proportion of lighter elements than is feasible according to estimates of the abundances of these elements early in Mars’s formation history.
The liquid iron-nickel core of Mars is surrounded by an approximately 150 km-thick layer of near-molten silicate rock, the top of which was previously misinterpreted as the surface of the core. This decrease in core radius implies a higher density than estimated in the earlier InSight study.
The molten state of this layer suggests that its temperature must be at least 2,000 Kelvin. This could be a sign that Mars had a turbulent interior following its formation, rather than a calmer one that more gently transported and shed heat to interplanetary space.

InSight Mars lander:

The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission was a robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of the planet Mars.
It was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space, was managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and two of its three scientific instruments were built by European agencies.
The mission launched on 5 May 2018 aboard an Atlas V-401 launch vehicle and successfully landed at Elysium Planitia on Mars. InSight was active on Mars for 1440 sols (1480 days; 4 years, 19 days).
InSight’s objectives were to place a seismometer, called Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), on the surface of Mars to measure seismic activity and provide accurate 3D models of the planet’s interior; and measure internal heat transfer using a heat probe called HP3 to study Mars’ early geological evolution.
This was intended to provide a new understanding of how the Solar System’s terrestrial planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars – and Earth’s Moon formed and evolved.

Source: TH