MRO finds interior of Mars is colder. NASA / JPL release.

3488 · May 15, 2008

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters, Washington Dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov   NEWS RELEASE:  2008-076 May 15, 2008 NASA Satellite Finds Interior of Mars is Colder New observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that the crust and upper mantle of Mars are stiffer and colder than previously thought. The findings suggest any liquid water that might exist below the planet's surface, and any possible organisms living in that water, would be located deeper than scientists had suspected. "We found that the rocky surface of Mars is not bending under the load of the north polar ice cap," said Roger Phillips of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. Phillips is the lead author of a new report appearing in this week's online version of Science. "This implies that the planet's interior is more rigid, and thus colder, than we thought before." The discovery was made using the Shallow Radar instrument on the spacecraft, which has provided the most detailed pictures to date of the interior layers of ice, sand and dust that make up the north polar cap on Mars. The radar images reveal long, continuous layers stretching up to 600 miles (1,000 kilometers), or about one-fifth the length of the United States. "In our first glimpses inside the polar ice using the radar on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, we can clearly see stacks of icy material that trace the history of Mars' climate," said Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.  Plaut is a science team member and a co- author of the paper. "Radar has opened up a new avenue for studying Mars' past." The radar pictures show a smooth, flat border between the ice cap and the rocky Martian crust. On Earth, the weight of a similar stack of ice would cause the planet's surface to sag. The fact that the Martian surface is not bending means that its strong outer shell, or lithosphere -- a combination of its crust and upper mantle -- must be very thick and cold. "The lithosphere of a planet is the rigid part. On Earth, the lithosphere is the part that breaks during an earthquake," said Suzanne Smrekar, deputy project scientist for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter at JPL. "The ability of the radar to see through the ice cap and determine that there is no bending of the lithosphere gives us a good idea of present day temperatures inside Mars for the first time." Temperatures in the outer portion of a rocky planet like Mars increase with depth toward the interior. The thicker the lithosphere, the more gradually the temperatures increase. The discovery of a thicker Martian lithosphere therefore implies that any liquid water lurking in aquifers below the surface would have to be deeper than previously calculated, where temperatures are warmer. Scientists speculate that any life on Mars associated with deep aquifers also would have to be buried deeper in the interior. The radar pictures also reveal four zones of finely spaced layers of ice and dust separated by thick layers of nearly pure ice. Scientists think this pattern of thick, ice-free layers represents cycles of climate change on Mars on a time scale of roughly one million years. Such climate changes are caused by variations in the tilt of the planet's rotational axis and in the eccentricity of its orbit around the sun. The observations support the idea that the north polar ice cap is geologically active and relatively young, at about 4 million years. On May 25, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled to touch down not far from the north polar ice cap. It will further investigate the history of water on Mars, and is expected to get the first up-close look at ice on the Red Planet. The Shallow Radar instrument was provided by the Italian Space Agency, and its operations are led by the InfoCom Department, University of Rome "La Sapienza." Thales Alenia Space Italia, in Rome, is the Italian Space Agency's prime contractor for the radar instrument. Astro Aerospace of Carpinteria, Calif., a business unit of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., developed the instrument's antenna as a subcontractor to Thales Alenia Space Italia. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver was the prime contractor for the orbiter and supports its operations. For more detailed information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mro.  For more information about the Mars Phoenix Lander, visit http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix . -end- Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

neuvik · May 15, 2008

You know what this means right.       Minning will potentially be more profitable allowing deeper excavations!        provided the veins continue.    Way to go Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show us the money! ofcourse liquid water is worth its wieght in gold out there hah.  <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> I don't think I'm alone when I say, "I hope more planets fall under the ruthless domination of Earth!"SDC Boards: Power by PLuck - Ph**king Luck </div>

3488 · May 15, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>You know what this means right.       Minning will potentially be more profitable allowing deeper excavations!        provided the veins continue.    Way to go Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show us the money! ofcourse liquid water is worth its wieght in gold out there hah.  Posted by neuvik</DIV>Good point neuvik. Mining on Mars is a dead cert in the future. Hopefully at some point we will get to see the Mars Odyssey minerology maps. Another issue this find brings up, is that the chance of active volcanism is drastically reduced. We really need to get seismometers & tilt meters to Mars on future missions (shame that Phoenix is not carrying one). I wonder id SHARAD on MRO or MARSIS on Mars Express can measure stresses within the Martian crust, like is it bending under the weight of Olympus Mons, or is there a slight rebound in Hellas Planitia, etc?It is certainly telling that t is not bending under the weight of the north polar ice, so yes, that is revealing great strength, which means a very thick crust.In some ways its disappointing regarding Areological activity, but as you point out, great for mining opportunities.Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

neuvik · May 15, 2008

I like the idea with the siesmic measurment device 3488.   With evidence that could potential lead to greater cost effectivness of potential terrestrial structures, huge costs are allocated for buildings to meet earquake codes.   Tailoring structures for the enviroments instead of build to earth norms would save time and money. Back to the imiddiate topic, do you know if say the Pheonix does find a decent portion of water/ice in the surface if that can transulate to potential underground reservoirs of water in those aquifiers?  The information from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is purley based off of the surface deformation, they can't really get that deep into the lithospher correct? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> I don't think I'm alone when I say, "I hope more planets fall under the ruthless domination of Earth!"SDC Boards: Power by PLuck - Ph**king Luck </div>

3488 · May 16, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I like the idea with the siesmic measurment device 3488.   With evidence that could potential lead to greater cost effectivness of potential terrestrial structures, huge costs are allocated for buildings to meet earquake codes.   Tailoring structures for the enviroments instead of build to earth norms would save time and money. Back to the imiddiate topic, do you know if say the Pheonix does find a decent portion of water/ice in the surface if that can transulate to potential underground reservoirs of water in those aquifiers?  The information from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is purley based off of the surface deformation, they can't really get that deep into the lithospher correct? Posted by neuvik</DIV>Hi neuvik,Yes that's correct, the MRO, etc usually rely on surface deformation & with the SHARAD on MRO & MARSIS on Mars Express, ice can be penetrated to varying degrees, & AFAIK, the CRISM can detect surface ice. But the question of ice deep within the lithosphere will require siesmometers & ground penetrating radar.Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

h2ouniverse · May 16, 2008

hi Andrew, Seismometers would be installed if the Netlanders mission occurs (or MarsNEXT). One point raised by one seismologist was that before deploying a network, at least one seismo should be installed to check if there is some activitiy at all. More sad news for planetology if Mars is really colder. After Rhea's non-differentiation, that makes tow blows in a row. Also if water is too deep, the pressure in the aquifers is going to be further increased... Not very good for life prospects (extremophiles on Earth stand about 1000bar, current record). The scientist mmentions only +30% of depth for liquid water so that may not be so dramatic after all.another experiment would be the thermal flow detectors. I wonder how much can be measured from orbt...This being said I am a little bit skeptical. If the crust was really so thick, how could we get the big four volcanoes?...Best regards

3488 · May 16, 2008

hi Andrew, Seismometers would be installed if the Netlanders mission occurs (or MarsNEXT). One point raised by one seismologist was that before deploying a network, at least one seismo should be installed to check if there is some activitiy at all. More sad news for planetology if Mars is really colder. After Rhea's non-differentiation, that makes tow blows in a row. Also if water is too deep, the pressure in the aquifers is going to be further increased... Not very good for life prospects (extremophiles on Earth stand about 1000bar, current record). The scientist mmentions only +30% of depth for liquid water so that may not be so dramatic after all.another experiment would be the thermal flow detectors. I wonder how much can be measured from orbt...This being said I am a little bit skeptical. If the crust was really so thick, how could we get the big four volcanoes?...Best regards  Posted by h2ouniverse[/QUOTE]Hi Joel,I really think that a seismometer wouild be really useful. I wonder if Tharsis & Elysium volcanic areas sit on thinner crust, but I wonder if SHARAD could be used to measure the crust around Olympus Mons, to see if the crust has buckled at all under the gigantic volcano? Below Planetary Photojournal release of the SHARAD observations that show the North Polar Icecap sitting on a rigid, non deformed surface (even under Mars's 37.8% surface gravity, there is enough weight there to cause a thinner crust to depress into the Mantle, like Earth's under Antarctica & Greenland).http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10652Below, Planetary Photojournal entry concerning SHARAD measurements of shape & elevations of North Polar icecap on Mars.http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10651Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

JonClarke · May 17, 2008

Posted by h2ouniverse Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'> Seismometers would be installed if the Netlanders mission occurs (or MarsNEXT). </DIV>Or MetNet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetNetReplying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>One point raised by one seismologist was that before deploying a network, at least one seismo should be installed to check if there is some activitiy at all. </DIV>MGS showed that there are a number of impacts over a 10 year period.   A global seismometer network would detect these and get useful information, even in the event of no endogenous quakes (which I find unlikely).Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>another experiment would be the thermal flow detectors. I wonder how much can be measured from orbt...</DIV>You need in ground probes to measure heat flow - drill a hole, insert probe, and then wait.  Apollo astronauts did this on the Moon.  ExoMars is planned to do this.Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>If the crust was really so thick, how could we get the big four volcanoes?</DIV>Or so cold.  Especially when some volcanic activity has happened in the last few millions years.  This is al based on gephsyical modelling.  When it does not fit with other data - like recent volcanism, it is a good idea to regard such interpretations as very provisional.cheersJon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars Arthur Clarke </div>

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