Mars News and Discussions

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caltrek
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Marsquakes Reveal the Ultra Metal Nature of the Red Planet Core
by Elana Spivack
December 26, 2021

https://www.inverse.com/science/mars-core

Introduction:
(Inverse) MARS SCIENCE DISCOVERIES can be so superficial — the search for water caches, terrestrial sampling, and other technical marvels tend to take place on the surface of the Red Planet (or a little above it). But while NASA’s Perseverance rover scoots around in Mars’s dust and gravel, there’s plenty deep within the planet itself that’s worth learning about, too. Like the fact that Mars’ inner core is perhaps the most metal place on the entire planet.

THE DISCOVERY — Earlier this year, three papers published in the journal Science confirmed that Mars’ core is made of molten metal. The finding came as a result of recording Marsquakes — the Martian equivalent of earthquakes here on Earth.

Mark Panning, the JPL project scientist for NASA’s InSight lander, and his colleagues drew from seismometer data to find the thickness and potential structure of the planet’s crust, the temperature of the planet’s mantle, and make the first direct seismological confirmation of the planet’s core — hence the trio of papers.

HOW THEY DID IT — Scientists know about Earth’s insides as a result of seismology — basically studying earthquakes and other internal rumblings as a means to peer at the processes driving them — but this method hasn’t really been an option for researchers studying other planets until very recently.

Then in 2018, a seismometer landed on Mars as part of the NASA InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) mission — and it has been recording Marsquakes ever since.
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InSight and its tiny “mole” heat probe friend are seen in this illustration.
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:lol: :lol:

And no, your Internet connection isn't dropping.

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weatheriscool
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Widespread megaripple activity found on Martian north pole area
https://phys.org/news/2022-01-widesprea ... -pole.html
by Planetary Science Institute

Megaripples, intermediate-scale bedforms caused by the action of the wind, have been studied extensively and thought to be largely inactive relics of past climates, save for a few exceptions. A new paper by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Matthew Chojnacki shows that abundant megaripple populations were identified across the north polar region of Mars and were found to be migrating with dunes and ripples.

Megaripples on Mars are about 1 to 2 meters tall and have 5 to 40 meter spacing, where their size falls between ripples that are about 40 centimeters tall with 1 to 5 meter spacing and dunes that can reach hundreds of meters in height with spacing of 100 to 300 meters. Whereas the megaripples' migration rates are slow in comparison (average of 0.13 meters per Earth year), some of the nearby ripples were found to migrate an average equivalent of 9.6 meters per year over just 22 days in northern summer—unprecedented rates for Mars. These high rates of sand movement help explain the megaripple activity.
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Ingenuity Mars Helicopter failed the 19th flight attempt, though it had managed to capture this image
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Confirming liquid water beneath Martian south polar cap
https://phys.org/news/2022-01-liquid-be ... polar.html
by Southwest Research Institute
A Southwest Research Institute scientist measured the properties of ice-brine mixtures as cold as -145 degrees Fahrenheit to help confirm that salty water likely exists between grains of ice or sediment under the ice cap at Mars' south pole. Laboratory measurements conducted by SwRI geophysicist Dr. David Stillman support oddly bright reflections detected by the MARSIS subsurface sounding radar aboard ESA's Mars Express orbiter.

With a 130-foot antenna, MARSIS flies over the planet, bouncing radio waves over a selected area and then receiving and analyzing the echoes or reflections. Any near-surface liquid water should send a strong bright signal, whereas the radar signal for ice and rock would be much smaller.

Because conventional models assume the Mars south polar cap experiences temperatures much lower than the melting point of water, many scientists have questioned the presence of liquid water. Clay, hydrated salts and saline ices have been proposed as potential explanations for the source of the bright basal reflections. The Italian-led team investigating the proposed phenomena used previously published data, simulations and new laboratory measurements.

"Lakes of liquid water actually exist beneath glaciers in Arctic and Antarctic regions, so we have Earth analogs for finding liquid water below ice," said Stillman, a specialist in detecting water in any format—liquid, ice or absorbed—on planetary bodies and co-author of a paper describing these findings. "The exotic salts that we know exist on Mars have amazing 'antifreeze' properties allowing brines to remain liquid down to -103 degrees Fahrenheit. We studied these salts in our lab to understand how they would respond to radar."
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weatheriscool wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:01 am Confirming liquid water beneath Martian south polar cap
https://phys.org/news/2022-01-liquid-be ... polar.html
by Southwest Research Institute
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NASA’s MRO Finds Water Flowed on Mars Longer Than Previously Thought

Jan. 26, 2022

Caltech researchers used the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to determine that surface water left salt minerals behind as recently as 2 billion years ago.

Mars once rippled with rivers and ponds billions of years ago, providing a potential habitat for microbial life. As the planet’s atmosphere thinned over time, that water evaporated, leaving the frozen desert world that NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) studies today.

It’s commonly believed that Mars’ water evaporated about 3 billion years ago. But two scientists studying data that MRO has accumulated at Mars over the last 15 years have found evidence that reduces that timeline significantly: Their research reveals signs of liquid water on the Red Planet as recently as 2 billion to 2.5 billion years ago, meaning water flowed there about a billion years longer than previous estimates.

[...]

The discovery raises new questions about how long microbial life could have survived on Mars, if it ever formed at all. On Earth, at least, where there is water, there is life.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-mro ... ly-thought


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Read the thread to know what the plan is for Persevere now.

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