Earthquakes on Mars give a detailed look at the Red Planet from within



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In a series of articles published this week, scientists report that the crust of Mars is found in the thickness of the Earth. The thickness of the Martian mantle between the crust and the core is about half the thickness of the Earth. The core of Mars is taller than scientists expected, although it is smaller than our planet’s core which is almost twice the size of Mars.

These new studies confirm that the core of Mars is molten. But more research is needed to find out whether Mars has a solid inner core like Earth’s, surrounded by a molten outer core, according to international research teams.

Scientists said on Friday that stronger earthquakes could help identify several underlying layers.

The results are based on around 35 earthquakes recorded by the French seismometer on NASA’s InSight lander, which arrived on Mars in 2018.

The dome seismometer has already detected 733 earthquakes to date, but 35 with magnitudes of 3.0 to 4.0 have served as the basis for these studies.

Most major earthquakes originate in a volcanic region 1,600 km (1,600 km) away where lava could have flowed only millions of years ago.

Even the biggest earthquakes are so weak they can barely be felt on Earth, said Mark Banning, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who participated in the study of the crust.

Banning said he hoped a “big thing” would make it easier to process the data and determine the interior of Mars.

“We would like to see bigger events,” he added.

Current measurements show that the crust of Mars can be 12 to 23 miles (20 to 37 km) deep and that the mantle extends for nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km); The core is relatively light with a radius of 1,137 miles (1,830 kilometers).



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