Mars' rapid spin: NASA reveals surprising discovery about red planet's rotation
PTC News Desk: NASA's InSight Lander data indicates Mars is spinning faster, leading to shorter days on the Red Planet. The study, conducted by researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has brought to light the most precise measurement of Mars' rotation to date.
The InSight Lander operated for four years, gathering crucial information before its extended mission concluded in December 2022. Published in Nature, the study reveals that Mars' axial rotation is accelerating at a rate of approximately 4 milliarcseconds annually. This acceleration results in a slight reduction in the duration of a Martian day by a fraction of a millisecond each year.
Although the researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have unveiled this phenomenon, the underlying cause behind Mars' accelerated rotation remains uncertain. They speculate that the accumulation of ice on the planet's polar caps might contribute to this alteration. Analogously, a redistribution of a planet's mass can lead to acceleration, akin to an ice skater's spin transitioning from outstretched arms to a pulled-in position.
InSight's principal investigator, Bruce Banerdt, expressed enthusiasm about the precision of the latest measurement, highlighting the decades of work that have culminated in such a breakthrough. The data used in the study was acquired through a radio transponder on the lander and antennas collectively known as the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE).
RISE represents a significant advancement in Mars research tools, following the lineage of equipment such as the Viking landers from the 1970s and the Pathfinder in the 90s. The advancements incorporated into RISE enable the collection of five times more accurate data compared to the capabilities of the Viking landers.
- With inputs from agencies
