Posted on 03/08/2020 8:23:44 PM PDT by BenLurkin
These readings were obtained by InSight's magnetic sensor, which studied the magnetic fields within the mission's landing zone. This shallow crater, known as "Homestead hollow", is located in the region called Elysium Planitia – a flat-smooth plain just north of the equator.
This region was selected because it has the right combination of flat topology, low elevation, and low debris to allow InSight to probe deep into the interior of Mars.
Prior to this mission, the best estimates of Martian magnetic fields came from satellites in orbit and were averaged over distances of more than 150 kilometres (93 miles).
Measuring magnetic fields on Mars is key to understanding the nature and strength of the global magnetic field (aka magnetosphere) that Mars had billions of years ago.
The presence of this magnetosphere has been inferred from the presence of magnetized rocks on the planet's surface, leading to localized and relatively weak magnetic fields.
According to data gathered by MAVEN and other missions, scientists predict that roughly 4.2 billion years ago, this magnetic field suddenly 'switched off'. This resulted in solar wind slowly stripping the Martian atmosphere away over the next few hundred million years, which is what led to the surface becoming the dry and desiccated place it is today.
Because most rocks on the surface of Mars are too young to have been magnetized by this ancient field, the team thinks it must be coming from deeper underground.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...
Inasmuch as the lander is in a crater, the originating meteor could have introduced highly charged magnetic material unrelated to the planetary norm.
https://www.earth.com/news/magnetic-field-solar-radiation/
" ... the magnetic field, which is generated by currents of molten iron from the Earth’s outer core. The field carries about one terawatt of power through its electric currents ... "
LOL, I was actually looking for the “Well get them blink in sequence” image before posting that.
I tell ya, that horseless carriage is just a dang fool contraption that’s a waste of time and will never amount to anything.
Iron in liquid form in the magma. Same way field is generated on Earth.
Ten times almost zero is still almost zero.
What I was thinking!
Mars is not volcanically active, so there doesn’t appear to be any molten magma left.
Hundreds of millions of rocks floating around our solar system...all we have to do is miss one of sufficient size and boom, we’re done. If not as a species then as a civilization.
Mars is the backup plan. Eventually it’ll be the frontier and finally another epicenter of humanity. Few things are as important.
Mars lost its atmosphere a while back. Not sure Mars is a tenable solution. You’d be way better off living in the cloud layer above Venus.
That IS doable.
I had a circuit board that picked up a little ceramic magnet from the workbench once. That sucker played hell on the micro controller.
I'm SOOOO glad you weren't around during the Westward expansion of our nation. The Spirit of Exploration nurtures humans.
Sorry, iron in magma has not shown the ability to hold magnetic fields. Heat magnets and they lose magnetism. Magnetism comes from flowing electricity. You have to have flowing electrons in a circuit. The idea of Magma doing it is the theory the Gravity people have pushed, but they can’t prove it.
Not necessarily. Any moving charged particle creates a magnetic field, not just electrons. At that temperature there is no shortage of charged particles due to ionization.
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