Deeper Mars

On November 26, 2018, NASA specialists managed to successfully put on Mars the InSight (Interior Exploration USISMIC Investigations, GEODESY and HeATRANSPORT), designed to study the inside of the red planet. Its calculated period of work is two years. The cost of the mission is over half a billion dollars excluding the cost of the launch itself.

In addition to several cameras and seismic attitudes, Insight is equipped with a probe for measuring subsurrent heat flows. A special drill, provided by German planetologists, will penetrate the five -meter depth, which significantly exceeds all previous scrapers, drills and manipulators used on Mars.

In addition, it is planned to conduct experiments on the precision measurement of Mars oscillations under the influence of the Sun by registering the Doppler displacement of the radio signal sent from the Earth.

InSight landing site, as was planned, is Elysium Planitia. The device sank into a small shock crater among sandy sediments (a kind of large sandbox), but this is for the better - it would be easier to drill the soil. It is slightly inclined (4 °), but this will also not create problems, since InSight is designed to work with an inclination of up to 15 °.

It is expected that images with a higher resolution will begin to come in the coming days, after Insight is freed from transparent plastic dustproof covers that protected two of its chambers during planting.

Operators are pleased that already during their first full day on Mars (Sol 1), solar panels generated more electricity than any previous Martian apparatus (4588 watts).

At present, INSIGHT has launched the panels of solar panels, took a trial photograph and monitor the weather conditions at the landing site using the Twins meteorological kit and magnetometer. The device unlocked his robotic hand the next day after landing. The deployment of devices for geophysical research will take about three months. It is required to get a large number of stereo photographs in order to find the best places for placing the probe and seismometer (they will be located separately from the main apparatus).

InSight was launched from the ground on May 5, 2018 from the Vandenberg base using the ATLAS V 401 launch vehicle. Together with the main apparatus to Mars went to MARCO-A and Marco-B, which observed the landing, but themselves flew past Mars. But the transfer of images to Earth occurs through the Mars Odyssey orbital Marsean station, which has been flying here since 2001.

Mars is the same age as the earth and formed about 4.5 billion years ago about the same from about the same material. There are giant volcanoes on Mars, concentrated in two provinces located nearby - Farside and Elizium. They are more than earthly hot spots that gave rise to the Hawaiian islands and Iceland. The Martian Volcano Olympus in Farsida province is the highest in the solar system.

The northern and southern hemispheres of Mars are very different: northern - low plain; South - high mountainous. There is a temptation to attribute this to an ancient global tectonics: here is the ocean, here is the mainland-and there was once something similar on Earth. But most experts agree that the northern hemisphere is something similar to the lunar seas - the result of a large body’s blow the size of Pluto. Now there is definitely no slab tectonics on Mars, although some kind of semblance could be in the distant Martian past.

The mass of Mars is an order of magnitude less earthly, because of this, its history and fate turned out to be significantly different. Due to the smaller size, Mars managed to cool almost completely. Although theoretical assessments indicate that the core of Mars is hot, apparently, it is not hot enough to be liquid and work as a magnetic dynamo. At least this is evidenced by the absence of a planetary magnetic field on Mars, which would protect its atmosphere. Probably, it was once, since there were areas with local magnetization. How hotly the core is just and should determine Insight. Another task is to determine the boundaries between the mantle and the bark and their approximate composition.

Finally, the third task is to identify the remnants of seismic activity and at the same time calculate how often meteorites fall on Mars.

Boris Stern, Maxim Borisov

Photo NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin