NASA / JPL-Caltech.
Planetary scientists penetrated into the interior of Mars and were able to determine the dimensions of its core. Thus Mars became the second planet for scientists to obtain information about its interior, after Earth.
It is reported that geologists usually use seismic waves to “see” the Earth’s interior. Because the speed of these waves is related to the properties of the materials that pass through them. Also, these waves can be reflected from the boundaries between the Earth’s layers (for example, from the boundaries between the mantle and the earth’s crust, or the mantle and the core). Longitudinal waves can also propagate in solids and liquids alike, while transverse waves only propagate in solids. All of these allow determining the composition of the globe.
read more
It is reported that in November 2018, the InSight probe landed on the surface of Mars, and among the devices installed on it, a seismograph. Its first earthquake was detected in April of 2019, after which it detected hundreds of earthquakes on the planet.
The current study, presented at the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference (LPSC 52), covers the period from March 2019 to July 2020. After analyzing the seismic signals observed by the probe, planetary scientists confirmed that Mars has a liquid core, with a radius of about 1,800 km and a density of 6 grams. Per cubic centimeter.
According to scientists, the radius of the core is equivalent to 53% of the radius of the Red Planet, which makes it similar to Earth, as the radius of the Earth’s core is equivalent to 55% of its radius. But the radius of Mars is equivalent to the radius of the Earth, which means that the composition of the interior of the two planets must be different. Therefore, the mantle of Mars is different from the mantle of the Earth and it is difficult to divide it into upper and lower. Also, according to the new results, the core of Mars should contain about 18% sulfur (Earth’s core contains 2% sulfur). Although the basic elements that make up the two nuclei are iron and nickel.
Source: Vesti. Ru
Source link