Mars: NASA lander looking inside the red planet – discovered amazing things

NASA LANDER “Insight” allows you to look deeper into the surface of Mars. There you can see the wonderful events of the past.

Pasadena / Zurich – The NASA-lander “Insight”* Tuesday. Unlike the rovers of “Curiosity” and “Perseverance”, “Insight” cannot move from its position, although it can explore a large part of the Red Planet from its landing site – because “Insight” is focused. Downward, inside the red planet. Since landing, the NASA lander has already been discovered, for example, How the interior of Mars is structured* And is Several earthquakes on Mars have been measured and recordedNow “Insight” has taken another look below the surface of the red planet and provided research with data that can be used to analyze soil to a depth of 200 meters.

“If there are people one day Tuesday* They need to know what’s on the ground and what’s on their feet ‘, ”writes the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) on its website in Zurich, which is dedicated to the Mars lander. ETH builds and maintains an instrument on the Mars lander: a seismometer. ETH experts have now used a method developed on Earth to use seismic measurements to find out what the soil looks like under “InSight”.

NASA LANDER explores the underground surface of Mars to a depth of 200 meters

To do this, they used surface waves that arise when wind strikes Martian structures such as craters or mountains. Depending on the density of the material below the surface, the waves propagate differently – from which conclusions can be drawn about the material. The researchers were able to map the bottom to a depth of 200 meters. They found different layers:

Mars Lander “Insight”: Was there a large meteorite impact?

With the help of seismic measurement, scientists can get all kinds of information from these different layers. The second layer, consisting of large boulders, is said to have been formed by the impact of a meteorite on Mars: it was ejected by the meteorite into the air and fell to the surface. The first dry volcanic eruption begins under the first two layers and is about 1.7 billion years old.

A 40-meter-thick layer of sediment separates the first part from the second volcanic eruption – researchers suspect that these micro-grain deposits may have been formed by air or water. The deep volcanic eruption occurred about 3.6 billion years ago, when there was massive volcanic activity on Mars, according to the study. Published in the journal Nature Communications Became. “It helps to find out what time there was between different missions,” explains Bruce Bonert, a member of the U.S. space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JBL). NASA* Opposite the reverse portal, co-author of the study.

Mars Research: Study shows a long halt in volcanic activity

“The fact that this sediment layer is between two volcanic layers shows that volcanic activity has ceased – it will take a long time for sedimentary rocks to form, which is a long pause.” Geologists call it “not only that. The uniform history of the volcano, but it may have occurred in multiple pulses,” Bonert continues.

Why Mars is explored in so much detail

But why are people researching Mars so closely? “We know the structure of the earth, but we do not know how it came to be,” explains Bonert. However, since Mars has less geological activity than Earth, many of the early processes that created Mars are still intact. “Mars is untouched yet,” Bonert insists, adding: “Looking at the interior of Mars, we can often speculate that the Earth may have been like this 4.5 billion years ago.” The purpose is to better understand how the earth came to be.

The “Insight” mission aims to answer basic questions about the formation of rocky planets through the study of Mars. Because there are only four of them in our solar system – they grew up quite differently after their formation in the hot solar nebula: when Earth is friendly to life, Venus is considered a glowing hell, and Mercury has enormous temperature fluctuations.

Mars is cold and uninhabitable, with almost no atmosphere and no magnetic field to protect the surface. Nevertheless, missions are always looking for life there – the last one The Mars rover “diligence” answered an important question*, A picture, NASA rover sent to Earth* Caused a stir and a NASA video shows a historical event on Mars*. (Tab) * fr.de is an offer IPPEN.MEDIA.