- 3540 - MARS QUAKES - and other discoveries? The marsquakes indirectly help us understand whether convection is occurring inside of the planet's interior, and if this convection is happening. Based off these findings there must be another mechanism at play that is preventing a magnetic field from developing on Mars.
--------------------- 3540 - MARS QUAKES - and other discoveries?
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- Sounds from Mars are being recorded by NASA’s Perseverance. The rover’s mechanical whine and click in a light Martian wind; the whir of rotors on Ingenuity, the Mars helicopter; the crackling strike of a rock-zapping laser are sounds on Mars.
- This Mars experiment reveals how fast sound travels through the extremely thin, mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere, how Mars might sound to human ears, and how scientists can use audio recordings to probe subtle air-pressure changes on another world and to gauge the health of the rover.
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- Most of the sounds were recorded using the microphone on Perseverance’s SuperCam, mounted on the head of the rover’s mast. The study also refers to sounds recorded by another microphone mounted on the chassis of the rover. This second microphone recently recorded the puffs and pings of the rover’s “Gaseous Dust Removal Tool” which blows shavings off rocks that the rover has scraped.
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- The microphone on the mast is part of the “SuperCam” science instrument. The microphone on the side of the rover was intended to capture the sounds of entry, descent, and landing for public engagement.
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- The recordings have given us a new understanding of strange characteristics of the Martian atmosphere, where the speed of sound is slower than on Earth, and varies with pitch, or frequency. On Earth, sounds typically travel at 767 mph. But on Mars, low-pitched sounds travel at about 537 mph , while higher-pitched sounds move at 559 mph.
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- The variable sound speeds on the Red Planet are an effect of the thin, cold, carbon dioxide atmosphere. Prior to the mission, scientists expected Mars’ atmosphere would influence sound speed, but the phenomenon had never been observed until these recordings were made.
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- Another effect of this thin atmosphere is that sounds carry only a short distance, and higher-pitched tones carry hardly at all. On Earth, sound might drop off after about 213 feet; on Mars, it falters at just 26 feet, with high-pitched sounds being lost completely at that distance.
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- The recordings from SuperCam’s microphone also reveal previously unobserved pressure variations produced by turbulence in the Martian atmosphere as its energy changes at tiny scales. Martian wind gusts at very short timescales also were measured for the first time.
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- One of the most striking features of the sound recordings is the silence that is a consequence of Mars having such a thin atmosphere results in the pressure changes with the seasons on Mars. That means, in the Martian autumn months to come, Mars might get noisier and provide even more insights into its otherworldly air and weather.
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- In addition to new sounds the volcanic activity beneath the surface of Mars could be responsible for triggering repetitive marsquakes, which are similar to earthquakes.
They have discovered 47 previously undetected marsquakes beneath the Martian crust in an area called Cerberus Fossae, a seismically active region on Mars that is less than 20 million years old.
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- The magma activity in the Martian mantle, the inner layer of Mars sandwiched between the crust and the core, is the cause of these newly detected marsquakes. The ESA-led “Rosalind Franklin rover” has a unique potential to search for evidence of past life on Mars thanks to its drill and laboratory.
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- It will be the first rover to drill 2 meters below the surface, and the first to use novel driving techniques, including wheel-walking, to overcome obstacles. Although the 2022 launch window for the mission is no longer possible following the suspension of cooperation with Roscosmos.
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- Due to the suspension of the 2022 launch, the Exomars elements are now being prepared for storage at a Thales Alenia Space site in Italy awaiting further instruction.
The teams will be looking for the earliest possible launch depending on how quickly technologies can be developed to support a European-led mission.
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- Meanwhile, the “ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter” (TGO) continues to relay the majority of data from Mars, from NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers as well as its Insight lander. TGO has considerable fuel onboard meaning it could also support data relay from the ExoMars rover in the future as well the Mars Sample Return campaign.
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- We can assume that the movement of molten rock in the Martian mantle is the trigger for these 47 newly detected marsquakes beneath the Cerberus Fossae region. Knowing that the Martian mantle is still active is crucial to our understanding of how Mars evolved as a planet.
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- NASA's “InSight lander” has been collecting data about marsquakes, Martian weather and the planet's interior since landing on Mars in 2018. The seismic events were relatively small in magnitude and would barely be felt if they had occurred on Earth. The quakes were detected over a period of about 350 sols - a term used to refer to one solar day on Mars - which is equivalent to about 359 days on Earth.
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- The marsquakes indirectly help us understand whether convection is occurring inside of the planet's interior, and if this convection is happening. Based off these findings there must be another mechanism at play that is preventing a magnetic field from developing on Mars.
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- All life on Earth is possible because of the Earth's magnetic field and its ability to shield us from cosmic radiation, so without a magnetic field life as we know it simply wouldn't be possible.
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- Understanding Mars' magnetic field, how it evolved, and at which stage of the planet's history it stopped is important for future missions and is critical if scientists one day hope to establish human life on Mars.
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April 11, 2022 MARS QUAKES - and other discoveries? 3540
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