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Results from the latest NASA mission InSight indicate that Mars may have a liquid core, alongside unexplained irregularities in its mantle.
NASA’s latest mission to Mars, InSight, has brought back new data that shows anomalies underneath the planet’s surface, and strengthens theories that it may lack a solid inner core.
Information gathered by Insight was focused on Mars’ subterranean layers, including the core and mantle. The mission finished in December of last year, and suggests that Mars may have a shifting rotational rate due to unexplained dynamics in its interior, atmosphere, or ice caps.
Alongside its material composition, scientists were also able to piece together new details as to how Mars was formed and has changed over the last 4.5 billion years. All of this work is bringing us closer to discovering whether life was ever present on the planet’s surface.
How does it all work? InSight landed on November 26, 2018, and operated for four years. It came to a halt when the solar panels became covered in dust, unable to recharge and produce energy from the sun. During that time, it recorded and analysed information from over 1,300 ‘marsquakes’. Unsurprisingly, these are earthquake-equivalent natural occurrences on Mars.
Seismic waves were captured and studied, giving researches a new view into how the planet operates and exists in space.
Alongside these recordings was a system called RISE, short for Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment. This bounced radio signals across space, transmitting from Mars back to antennas on Earth.
