This NASA gravity map gives a unique view of Mars
Mars watchers now have access to the most detailed look at the Red Planet yet. NASA has created a map of Mars's gravity that was made using three of the space agency's orbiting spacecraft, giving a clearer sense of the planet's mysterious interior.
"Gravity maps allow us to see inside a planet, just as a doctor uses an X-ray to see inside a patient," Antonio Genova, an MIT researcher who worked on the map, said in a press release. "This new gravity map will be helpful for future Mars exploration, because better knowledge of the planet's gravity anomalies helps mission controllers insert spacecraft more precisely into orbit around Mars."
The map was created with the use of Doppler and range tracking data that comes from three NASA probes: the Mars Global Surveyor, the Mars Odyssey, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA reported that very small differences in the planet's gravity altered the trajectory of the three spacecraft, impacting the signal that was sent back to the Deep Space Network. The small orbital fluctuations contributed to constructing a map of the Martian gravity field.
Genova, who works for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said the map gives researchers a better understanding of the "still-myserious formation" of certain regions of the planet.
The team behind the map confirmed that the planet has a liquid outer core of molten rock, which was determined by analyzing tides in the planet's molten crust and mantle, which are caused by the gravitational pull of the sun and the planet's two moons.
"With this new map, we've been able to see gravity anomalies as small as about 62 miles across and we've determined the crustal thickness of Mars with a resolution of around 75 miles," Genova added. "The better resolution of the new map helps interpret how the crust of the planet changed over Mars's history in many regions."