Beyond the safety of Earth, robots are paving the way for human exploration of the solar system, reaching out to sniff atmospheres and taste alien soils. For many of these, the target in their sights is Mars, leading the way for a manned mission to the planet.
Now planetary scientists are looking to one of these robotic explorers to help them unlock the secrets hidden in Mars’ rocky interior – by listening to how it ‘rings’ when it is hit by meteorites or its interior rumbles.
They hope the research could reveal more about how the rocky planets in our solar system formed, and reveal whether life is hiding beneath the surface.
Each time an asteroid or meteor smashes into the surface of the red planet, it sends vibrations echoing through it like a huge celestial bell in the solar system.
Any residual tectonic activity under the surface has the same seismic effects – called Marsquakes.
Scientists hope that my listening out for these signals they will be able to unpick the structures and rocks that formed billions of years ago and now lie hidden beneath the surface.
Shedding light on the processes which caused Mars to evolve into its current state will give new clues about the earliest beginnings of the solar system and how the rocky planets, including our own, formed.
At the heart of this interplanetary investigation lies a trick used by oil and gas prospectors here on Earth to search for black gold locked up in the crust.
By detonating charges at depth, they can measure how seismic waves from the explosion interact with the surrounding rock, mapping the subterranean structure to reveal where pockets of fossil fuel may be hiding.
Experts believe this same principle can be applied on Mars.
‘In this case, we’ll be using Marsquakes, or meteorite impacts, and those ring Mars like a bell,’ explained Jim Crocker, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems, and one of those hoping to find out how Mars has become the planet it is today.
In 2018, a robotic probe built by Lockheed Martin for Nasa, the Mars InSight mission, will set off for red planet.
It forms part of wider efforts to glean information about the planet’s rich geological past.
The stationary lander had been planned to launch in March, but was delayed after a leak was detected. Once launched, it will join the growing number of rovers scurrying about on the rust-red soil, as well as satellites soaring thousands of miles above.
Lockheed Martin has been involved in exploratory missions to all of the planets in the solar system building launch vehicles, satellites, landers and orbiters which have been flung out into space – including the Juno orbiter which reached Jupiter earlier this month.
The 2018 mission will see it deliver two key instruments aboard InSight built by European space agencies. The first will measure how heat is lost from the planet while the second will trace how seismic waves spread through its rocky interior.
‘Using these instruments, we’ll be able to get an idea of what the interior of Mars looks like,’ Mr Crocker told MailOnline.
Evidence suggests the cold desert planet was once much more welcoming, with large bodies of liquid water and an atmosphere of its own.
Similar to Earth, scientists believe it had a churning core of molten iron, which would have generated a protective magnetic field.
Under the surface, this churning threw up volcanoes, including the gargantuan Olympus Mons.
But at some point in the planet’s past the core cooled and solidified, weakening the protective field and leading to the planet’s atmosphere being stripped away by solar winds.
Studying the rocks and rate of heat loss on Mars today will provide a more accurate date on when this occurred, while other tools will be looking at the rate at which the atmosphere has been escaping.
‘We have another spacecraft around Mars now – called Maven,’ added Mr Crocker. ‘That’s dipping in and out of the atmosphere of Mars and sampling the upper atmosphere.’
‘With InSight looking at heat escape from the interior, and Maven working with the upper atmosphere, scientists are going to have a really good model and understanding of what Mars may have looked like in the past.’
Satellite and rover data from the initial waves of robotic scouts have thrown up some interesting findings, hinting at a once dense atmosphere with oceans of water.
Mr Croker said: ‘Any place on Earth we find liquid water we find life, so it’s very exciting to understand the possibility that life could possibly have started on Mars before it lost its atmosphere, and perhaps even in the deeper surfaces, where water is still liquid because of the heat of the planet, perhaps there’s bacterial life.’
A number of other intrepid robotic explorers are set to crash the party on Mars.
Earlier this year European Space Agency launched its Trace Gas Orbiter mission, which will taste the Martian atmosphere for traces of methane.
This organic molecule would be the chemical ‘smoking gun’ for activity on Mars, of geological origin, or for the more optimistic, microbial life.
Nasa will send yet another Lockheed probe in the form of its Mars 2020 rover, which will join its robotic predecessors combing the surface of the red planet.
‘There’s a lot of companies in the market space… it seems like everybody’s building a rocket and going somewhere,’ Mr Crocker told MailOnline.
As the technology improves, he believes future exploratory missions will likely see many more robo-explorers cast out into the solar system and beyond.
‘The robots tend to go and map the way, and find the interesting places for humans to go,’ explained Mr Crocker. ‘But I also think we’ll see a closer integration of humans and robotics as we move forward.’
‘I think a lot of initial exploration, particularly in the outer planets because of the distances involved, will be done by robots. But I think Mars is the obvious next destination for humans.
‘The political will of the world to go to Mars is starting to line up, and I’m very excited about that.
‘I think we’re seeing the stars align for a human journey to Mars and certainly in the next couple of decades.’
Daily Mail
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