New details revealed on what Mars insides look like
A two-year scientific investigation has revealed new details on what is hiding underneath the surface of Mars.
The new information was obtained by NASA's InSight Lander which was deployed to the red planet in November 2018 after decades of planning.
This is the first time a geographical survey of this nature has been completed of an alien planet.
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Artist's view of the internal structure of Mars. IPGP/David Ducros
The Insight Lander spent months analysing quakes on the planet and how the seismic waves moved through its interior.
Information from the tiny seismometer the Insight Lander installed was published in three papers in the journal of Science overnight.
The research also looked at the red planet's magnetism and how it "wobbles" as it orbits the Sun.
Researchers discovered Mars has three layers, similar to Earth, a crust, a mantle and a core.
The publication says Mars' crust is much thinner than expected, measuring between 20 and 37 kilometres deep compared to Earth's which is closer to 100 kilometres deep.
"Unlike Earth, Mars has no tectonic plates; its crust is instead like one giant plate," NASA said in a statement.
Using a robotic arm, the InSight Lander dropped two main instruments on the ground. NASA/JPL
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Below the crust is a significantly larger mantle, roughly 1560 kilometres below the planet's surface.
The study also found Mars' core was molten like Earth's outer core, but bigger with more liquid.
It is still unknown if Mars has another inner core like Earth, but researchers say it took centuries to map Earth's insides, so the fact it took the Insight Lander just two years to do the same for Mars is pretty impressive.
"It took scientists hundreds of years to measure Earth's core," Professor Simon Stähler, lead author of one of the new papers said in the statement.
It measured seismic activity, magnetism and how the red planet wobbles around the sun. IPGP/David Ducros
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"After the Apollo missions, it took them 40 years to measure the moon's core. InSight took just two years to measure Mars' core."
Scientists now hope revelations from the InSight mission will help give a better understanding of how other planets in the solar system are made up and Earth's place among them.
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