For the first time a NASA mission detects deep seismic waves traveling through the Martian core from the far side of the planet

An international team that included seismologists at the University of Maryland used seismic data obtained by NASA's InSight probe to measure the properties of the Martian core directly, and found a core of completely liquid iron alloys with high proportions of sulfur and oxygen.

These results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 24, 2023, and reveal new insights into how Mars formed and the geological differences between Earth and the Red Planet that may eventually play a role in maintaining the habitability of life on the planet.

University of Maryland (UMD) assistant professor of geology, Vedran Lekic, co-author of the paper, said: “In 1906, scientists first discovered the Earth’s core by observing how seismic waves from earthquakes are affected by traveling through it. Over a hundred years later, we are applying our knowledge "Seismic waves on Mars. With InSight, we're finally discovering what's at the center of Mars and what makes the planet so similar yet distinct from Earth."

To determine these differences, the team tracked the evolution of two distant seismic events on Mars, one caused by a Martian earthquake and the other by a large meteorite impact on the far side of Mars, and detected waves that passed through the planet's core.

By comparing the time it took for these waves to travel through Mars with waves that remained in the mantle, and integrating this information with other seismic and geophysical measurements, the team estimated the density and compressibility of the material the waves passed through.

Scientists' results indicated that Mars likely contains a very liquid core, unlike Earth's composition of a liquid outer core and a solid inner core.

In addition, the team extracted details about the chemical composition of the core, such as the surprisingly large amount of photosynthetic elements (elements with low atomic numbers) - namely sulfur and oxygen - present in the Martian interior.

The team's results indicate that one-fifth of the mass of the nucleus is made up of these lighter elements. This high ratio differs sharply from the proportion of the relatively lower mass of light elements in the Earth's core, which indicates that the Martian core is much less dense and more compressed than the Earth's core, a difference that indicates different formation conditions for the two planets, which provides some hint as to why the Earth is full. lively, while Mars appears to be devoid of life.

“The characteristics of a planet’s core can serve as a summary of how a planet formed and how it dynamically evolves over time,” explained Nicholas Schmeier, a University of Maryland geoscientist and one of the paper’s authors. “The end result of formation and evolution processes can be either the generation or absence of life-sustaining conditions.” "The uniqueness of the Earth's core allows it to generate a magnetic field that protects us from the solar wind, allowing us to conserve water. The Mars core does not generate this protective shield, so the planet's surface conditions are hostile to life."

Although Mars does not currently have a magnetic field, scientists hypothesize that there was once a magnetic shield similar to the one generated by the Earth's core due to the effects of magnetism trapped in the Martian crust.

Lekic and Schmir pointed out that this could mean that Mars gradually evolved to its current conditions, transforming from a potentially habitable planet into one incredibly hostile to life.

According to the scientists, the conditions inside play a major role in this development, as do the violent influences.

The results finally confirmed the accuracy of current modeling estimates aimed at revealing layers hidden beneath the planet's surface.

For geophysicists like Lekic and Schmeier, such research also paves the way for future geophysical missions to other celestial bodies, including planets like Venus and Mercury.

"Although the InSight mission ended in December 2022 after four years of seismic monitoring, we are still analyzing the data collected. InSight will continue to influence how we understand the formation and evolution of Mars and other planets for years to come," Lekic said. Source: phys.org

Loss of contact with the vehicle carrying the Emirati explorer "Rashid"

An RT correspondent said on Tuesday evening that the "iSpace" company lost contact with the vehicle carrying the Emirati explorer, "Rashid", as it was expected to descend on the surface of the moon an hour ago from now.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center said that the "iSpace" company announced the loss of contact with the lander "Hakuto R", which carries the explorer "Rashid" on board, as it was unable to confirm its landing.

The center is awaiting re-contact with the spacecraft before confirming the landing and the success of the space mission, which was launched 9 months ago.

The company confirmed in a statement that the "iSpace" team continues to study the situation and will provide updates upon completion.

And the Japanese company “iSpace”, which developed the “Hakuto-R” space landing vehicle carrying the “Explorer Rashid”, announced that the live broadcast coverage of its landing will start about an hour before the scheduled landing time at 8:40 pm Emirates time, after Its journey took about 1.4 million kilometers to reach its orbit after launching on December 11, in which it took a low-energy path to the moon instead of a direct approach.

At about 7:40 pm today, the Japanese lander, Hakuto-R, is scheduled to perform several maneuvers to control the orbit, in order to reach a 100-kilometer circular orbit around the moon, before the start of the landing sequence, and during the landing sequence, the propulsion system will be launched. The head of the explorer to decelerate from orbit, using a series of previously defined commands, as the explorer will adjust its position, and reduce its speed to make a soft landing in the area specified for it.

In the event that the landing operation is successful, the UAE will be the first Arab country and the fourth in the world to achieve this achievement, according to the Emirates News Agency, WAM.

And "WAM" had revealed that the explorer "Rashid" will land in the Mari Frigoris region, specifically the site of "Atlas Crater", which has not been discovered before.

The explorer "Rashid" represents a qualitative scientific addition in the field of space science, as it aims to study the moon's soil, study the thermal properties of its surface topography, know the photoelectric effect of its surface, test the ability of materials not to stick to its soil particles, study the mobility of the moon's surface, and develop special robotics techniques. exploration vehicle systems. Source: RT + media

A Japanese spacecraft takes a unique picture of a rare astronomical event with "earthrise" before its historic landing today on the moon

The Japanese lunar lander captured the rare hybrid eclipse and Earthrise, days before its expected historic landing today at 16:40 GMT.

The featured image, taken from lunar orbit, shows the moon's shadow dancing on Earth's surface.

The Japanese Hakuto-R mission, which aims to land on the moon today, April 25, captured the image during the solar eclipse on April 20.

The Japanese space agency plans to place the Hakuto-R lander on the moon at 12:40 p.m. EDT (16:40 GMT).

The moon passed across the face of the sun from Earth's perspective, creating a shadow. And officials of ispace (a private Japanese company that develops robotic spacecraft technologies for building landers and rovers) wrote in a tweet on Twitter, on Monday, April 24: “Here we see the Earth's sunrise on the moon during the solar eclipse, captured by the camera on the spacecraft.” The landing is about 100 km (60 miles) from the lunar surface.

Hakuto-R's primary landing site will be Atlas Crater, located on the southeastern outer rim of Mare Frigoris (Sea of ​​Cold) crater, according to previous statements from ispace.

The Hakuto-R spacecraft was launched in December 2022 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and it was orbiting the moon before landing.

The landing will involve several steps, according to ispace officials, and the process will take about an hour. Source: Myspace

China announces the date of sending a vehicle to the dark side of the moon

China has revealed when it will send a new exploratory vehicle to study the dark side of the moon.

On the subject, the chief designer of the China Aerospace Exploration Program, Ou Yanhua, said: "China plans to launch the Chang'e-6 spacecraft to the dark side of the moon in May 2024. This vehicle is dedicated to collecting samples of lunar soil."

He added, "We are also working on a project to launch the Magpie Bridge 2 signal repeater to the moon, and during the second phase of our national program regarding the moon, we plan to launch the Chang'e-7 mission in 2026, which aims to explore the south pole of the moon, and it will play an important role in the construction project." A satellite research base, and we are planning the Chang'e-8 mission, which is scheduled to be launched in 2028."

And the State Council of China had approved in January 2004 a national program to explore the moon, and in 2019 China achieved success with the arrival of its first spacecraft to the dark side of the moon, and in November 2020 China launched the Chang’e-5 vehicle to the moon, which managed to collect 2 about 23 kilograms of its soil and returned to the ground loaded with samples, about 23 days after its release.

China is currently working on a project to send the Chang'e-6 spacecraft to the dark side of the moon to collect soil samples there and study the fine impurities and materials in them. Source: TASS