Astronomers and space agencies are constantly gathering new information about the universe, and in many cases, that information has to be analyzed by various experts to determine what it means.
Information about the gravitational fields of Mars has recently been analyzed and seems to reveal that there are a number of structures that are hidden under the remains of what is likely an ancient ocean.
This was presented at the Europlanetary Science Congress in Berlin and contributes to the growing idea that Mars may not be as geologically inactive as previously believed.
Lead author Bart Root is an assistant professor at TU Delft in Denmark and he found that the odd structures detected are denser than the surrounding areas. He said in a statement:
“There are around twenty features of varying sizes that we have identified dotted around the area surrounding the north polar cap — one of which resembles the shape of a dog. There seems to be no trace of them at the surface, however, through gravity data, we have a tantalizing glimpse into the older history of the northern hemisphere of Mars.”
The information used for this study was gathered using satellite orbits around the planet, which were collected by NASA’s InSIGHT lander.
Root believes that there may be a large area of magma that is 1000 miles across in the mantle of the planet. This may be slowly coming toward the surface, which could result in volcanos or other geographic activity that would have been previously unexpected.
In his statement, he explains:
“This means we need to rethink how we understand the support for the Olympus Mons volcano and its surroundings. It shows that Mars might still have active movements happening inside it, affecting and possibly making new volcanic features on the surface.”
This may be concerning to those who want to travel to the red planet.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.