Data sent by the InSight spacecraft, before it retired last December, has provided new details about how fast the planet rotates and how much it wobbles.
Data collected by the spacecraft Intuitionbefore retiring in December last year, disclose it Mars spin faster. As per update by United States Aerospace Agency (NASA) released in early August this year, new details have been discovered about how fast the planet rotates and how much it wobbles.
“Scientists have made the most accurate measurements of Mars’ rotation, detecting for the first time how the planet wobbles due to so-called scattering from its molten metal core. natureare part of the form data InSight Mars from NASA, which operated for four years before running out of power during its extended mission in December 2022, NASA said.
To track the speed of rotation of the planet, the study authors relied on one of the instruments of the Intuition: a radio transponder and antennas collectively called Rotation experiment and internal structure (Rotation experiment and internal structure, in free translation).
“They found that the rotation of the planet is accelerating by approx 4 milliseconds of arc per year – corresponding to a shortening of the length of the Martian day by a fraction of a millisecond per year,” the aerospace agency said.
second NASA, it’s a subtle acceleration, and scientists aren’t sure of the cause. But they do have a few ideas, including the accumulation of ice on polar ice caps or post-glacial rebound, where landmasses rise after being buried under ice.
“The change in a planet’s mass can cause it to accelerate somewhat like an ice skater spinning with arms outstretched and then pulling the arms inward,” calculates the agency.
“It’s really nice to be able to get this latest measurement — and so accurately,” said Bruce Banerdt, principal investigator of the Intuitionfrom the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASAin Southern California.
“I’ve been involved in efforts to put a geophysical station like InSight on Mars for a long time, and these results are worth all those decades of work,” he concluded.
Equipment used to track the rotation of Mars
Always second NASARise is part of a long tradition of Mars using radio waves for science, including the Viking twin probes in the 1970s and the Pathfinder probe in the late 1990s. However, none of these missions took advantage of InSight’s advanced radio technology and InSight’s antenna upgrades . Deep space network by NASA on Earth, which provide more accurate data.
In case of Intuitionscientists would transmit a radio signal to the lander using the Deep space network. The Rise, in turn, reflected the signal. When the scientists received the reflected signal, they looked for tiny changes in frequency caused by the Doppler shift (the same effect that causes an ambulance siren to change pitch as it approaches and recedes). By measuring the change, the researchers were able to determine how fast the planet rotates.
“What we’re looking for are variations of a few tens of centimeters over the course of a Martian year,” said Sebastien Le Maistre, lead author of the paper and a Rise investigator at the Royal Observatory in Belgium.
The paper looked at data from InSight’s first 900 Martian days, long enough to look for such variations. Scientists have gone to great lengths to eliminate sources of noise: water, for example, slows down radio signals, so moisture in Earth’s atmosphere can distort the signal from Mars.
“We spent a lot of time and energy preparing for the experiment and anticipating these discoveries. But despite this, we were surprised along the way – and it’s not over yet, as Rise still has a lot to reveal on Mars,” said Le Maistre .
Measurements of the wobble of Mars
The Rise data was also used by the study authors to measure Mars’ wobble, called nutation, due to the churning in its liquid core. “The measurement allows scientists to determine the size of the nucleus. Based on data from Rise, the nucleus has a radius of approximately 1,140 miles (1,835 kilometers),” NASA says.
The authors then compared that number to two previous measurements of the core derived from the spacecraft’s seismometer. In particular, they examined how seismic waves travel through the planet’s interior, either bouncing off the core or passing through it unobstructed.
“Taking all three measurements into consideration, they estimate the core radius to be between 1,112 and 1,150 miles (1,790 and 1,850 kilometers). Mars taken together it has a radius of 2,106 miles (3,390 kilometers) – about half the size of the Earth“, adds to NASA.
Measuring the wobble of Mars has also provided details about the shape of the nucleus.
‘The Rise data indicate that the shape of the nucleus cannot be explained by its rotation alone,’ said co-author Attilio Rivodini of the Royal Observatory of Belgium.
“This shape requires regions of slightly higher or lower density buried deep in the mantle.”
Although scientists have yet to explore the data of the Intuitiont for years to come, this study marks the final chapter in Banerdt’s role as the mission’s principal investigator. After 46 years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, he retired on August 1 of this year.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
