Discovering Mars: How NASA’s Marsquake Data Unveils the Planet’s Bumpy Interior

NASA’s InSight lander has provided exciting new insights about Mars. Deep beneath the Martian surface, scientists found large, ancient lumps of material. These lumps, remnants from massive impacts that happened 4.5 billion years ago, tell us a lot about Mars’ history and what lies below its crust.

This discovery came from InSight’s work before it ended its mission in 2022. The impacts released so much energy that they created magma oceans, melting large portions of Mars’ early crust and mantle. While we can’t identify each object that hit Mars, we know a variety of rocky bodies roamed the early solar system, some as massive as protoplanets. The lumps discovered are up to 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) wide and are unique records of Mars’ formation since the planet lacks tectonic plates to recycle its crust as Earth does.

In a study published in the journal Science, lead author Constantinos Charalambous from Imperial College London emphasized just how detailed our view of Mars’ interior has become. “We’ve never seen the inside of a planet in such fine detail and clarity before,” he noted. This level of detail is rare; Earth’s dynamic geology tends to erase similar features over time.

The InSight mission, managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, placed the first seismometer on Mars in 2018. This instrument recorded over 1,300 marsquakes, allowing scientists to analyze the Martian crust and mantle. The seismic waves generated by these quakes help researchers learn about the planet’s inner layers and identify significant structures.

Mars experiences a different kind of seismic activity than Earth. While Earth’s quakes are often caused by tectonic movements, Martian quakes can occur due to rocks breaking under pressure or meteor impacts. A recent study found that meteoroid impacts produce high-frequency seismic waves that penetrate deep into Mars’ mantle. Scientists estimate that the Martian mantle could be up to 960 miles (1,550 kilometers) thick, with temperatures soaring up to 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit (1,500 degrees Celsius).

In a surprising twist, researchers found that high-frequency signals were delayed as they traveled through certain regions of the mantle. This indicated that these areas contained material with different properties than the surrounding rock. These lumps likely resulted from giant asteroids striking Mars in its youth, scattering fragments throughout its mantle, much like shattered glass. This pattern is consistent with current theories about the intense bombardment the early solar system witnessed.

Tom Pike, a co-author of the study, explained, “When we first saw this in our quake data, we thought the slowdowns were happening in the Martian crust.” The research team used simulations to figure out the unique characteristics of these regions, providing a clearer picture of Mars’ geological history.

This insight into Mars could also apply to other rocky planets without tectonic activity, such as Venus and Mercury. An understanding of their interiors could reveal more about their formations and histories.

The InSight mission not only enhanced our understanding of Mars but also set the stage for future explorations. As scientists dig deeper into the data collected, there’s still much to learn about the Red Planet’s mysteries.

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InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport), Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mars