Why are days on Mars getting shorter? Mars is rotating faster every year, resulting in a shorter time span of its days, which has not occurred before, according to the most recent data from NASA‘s InSight Lander.
Mars is an oxymoron in and of itself due to its lack of atmosphere. The planet has an unstable liquid metal core, forcing it to spin indefinitely, yet it is also a frozen desert.
The rising spin was unknown until a study team uncovered hints of acceleration using InSight’s RISE (Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment) sensor.
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Further examination of the RISE data from InSight’s first 900 days on Mars found that the planet’s rotation was rising at a rate of 0.76 milliseconds per (Earth) year.
Why are days on Mars getting shorter?
The major purpose of RISE was to determine how much wobbling Mars experienced as the Sun’s gravity pushed and pulled on its orbit.
The chance of the core being solid or liquid would be decided by this. RISE was then charged with calculating the length of a Martian day.
“Sols” or Martian days are 24 hours and 37 minutes long, or about half an hour longer than Earth days.
RISE computed Mars’ rotational velocity and wobble using reflected radio waves.
It would take up the Deep Space Network (DSN) radio transmission and reflect the waves back to Earth.
By comparing the frequency of the DSN transmission with the signal that returned to Earth, the InSight team was able to estimate how the lander was heading toward Mars.
RISE noticed variations in day duration with five times greater precision than the Viking landers.
Changes in the frequency of reflected radio waves indicated orbital wobbles and the duration of a day on Mars.
RISE also revealed evidence that Martian days were becoming shorter in another manner.
It also tracked variations in carbon dioxide levels near the poles, where CO2 sublimates during spring and summer warming and condenses during autumn and winter cooling.
While scientists are convinced of the specific reason for Earth’s rotational slowness and lengthening of our days over billions of years, they are unclear about why Mars’ spin is speeding up and shortening its days.
However, there is a significant chance that it has anything to do with changes in the red planet’s ice caps.
As carbon dioxide ice atop the Martian ice caps evaporates owing to sublimation during the warmer months, previously ice-covered areas become essentially ice-free.
Post-glacial rebound or ice buildup (or both), according to Le Maistre and his colleagues, would force Mars’ mass to revolve closer to its axis.
