The Insight probe revealed that the plains of Elysium Planitia north of Mars’ equator had a magnetic field 10 times stronger than NASA predicted.
At the start of its exploration mission in November 2018, NASA used the Insight lander to study earth seismology, geodesy, thermal transformation and the environment. This mission was carried out in two years. A little over a year and a half later, NASA published the first set of studies on the surface of Mars. One of these studies published in Nature Geoscatics shared some pretty interesting findings about the magnetic field on Mars.
Insight’s landing zone had a magnetic field 10 times stronger than expected, the team said. This discovery, thanks to Insight’s magnetic sensor, is helping scientists solve important mysteries about the formation of Mars and its subsequent evolution. This shallow crater is located in the region of Elysium Planitia – a flat plain north of the equator of Mars. NASA chose this area because it combines a low-level, flat topology and small gravel that allows Insight to probe deep into Mars. Prior to this mission, estimates of Mars’ magnetic fields came from orbiting satellites, averaging over 150 kilometers.
Catherine Johnson, professor of earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences at the University of British Columbia, is a senior researcher at the Planetary Science Institute (PSI), said the study’s lead author. , one of the A large number of previous satellite missions is a magnetic force over small areas. The team placed the first magnetic sensors on the surface to gain new clues about the internal structure and atmosphere of Mars. The Insight recorded a magnetic field 10 times stronger than predicted by NASA. Measuring the magnetic field will help understand the nature and strength of the billions of years inherent in Mars.
Previously, predictions for the Martian magnetic field were based on the presence of rocks on the planet’s surface, resulting in a local and relatively weak magnetic field. According to data collected by MAVEN and other missions, scientists predicted that around 4.2 billion years ago, this magnetic field suddenly disappeared. This drove the solar wind to wash away the Martian atmosphere for hundreds of millions of years to come, making the Martian surface just as arid today. Most of the rocks on the Martian surface are too young to be infected by a magnetic field ahead of time, so the team figured it must have come from a deeper subsoil.
“We believe it came from much older rocks, buried a few hundred yards to 10 kilometers underground. It would be difficult to deduce without magnetic data,” Johnson explained. and geological information provided by Insight. “By combining Insight data with magnetic research information from Mars’ past orbits, Johnson and his colleagues hope to be able to determine exactly which rocks are magnetized and their age. These efforts will be supported by future rock study missions to Mars, such as NASA’s Mars 2020 Self-propelled Vehicle, ESA’s Rosalind Franklin Mission, and China’s Huoxing-1 (HX-1).
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Insight’s magnetometer is also capable of collecting data on phenomena that exist in the Martian atmosphere as well as the space environment around the planet. Like Earth, Mars is exposed to the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun and bringing its magnetic field into the IMF’s interplanetary space. But since Mars does not have a magnetosphere, it has little protection from solar wind and weather events, allowing landers to study the effects of both on the planet’s surface, which scientists previously did. impossible to do.
Another interesting finding is that the way the magnetic field of Mars fluctuates between day and night, short pulses will occur around midnight and last only a few minutes. Scientists hypothesize that these changes are due to interactions between solar radiation, IMF, and particles in the upper atmosphere that generate electric currents and magnetic fields.
Going forward, the Insight team hopes their efforts to collect surface magnetic field data will coincide with the trajectories MAVEN crosses, allowing them to compare and contrast the data. Magnetic fields changing over time are useful for studies of the conductive structure of Mars, related to its internal temperature. Also, it’s worth noting that X-band radio measurements will show how much Mars “swinging” on the axis of rotation will help reveal the true nature of the planet’s core.
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