An exhaustive examination of lunar gravity using data obtained by the robotic spacecraft of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) offers new clues about why the two sides of the moon, which perpetually confronts the earth and the other always looks, looks very different.
The data of the Interior Recovery and Interior Laboratory of the Space Agency of the United States Space Agency (Grail), indicate that the deep interior of the Moon has an asymmetric structure caused by an intense volcanism at its nearby levels ago billions ago that helped shape its surface characteristics.
The researchers discovered that the nearby lunar is flexed a little more than the distant during its elliptical orbit around the earth thanks to the gravitational influence of our planet, a process called tide deformation. This indicates differences on both sides of the lunar interior, specifically in the geological layer called mantle.
“Our study shows that the interior of the Moon is not uniform: the side that faces the Earth, the Nearside, is warmer and geologically active in the background than the farce,” said Ryan Park, supervisor of the solar system dynamics group in the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and the main author of the study published Wednesday in the Nature magazine, Open New Tab.
The side of the moon is covered by vast plains, called mare, formed from molten rock that cooled and solidified billions of years. Its distant has a much more resistant terrain, with few plains.
Some scientists have raised the hypothesis that the intense volcanism within the nearby cost that caused the radioactive elements generating heat to accumulate on that side of the mantle promoted the differences of the surface observed today. The new findings offer the strongest evidence to support this notion.
The researchers estimated that the nearby mantle is approximately 180-360 degrees Fahrenheit (100-200 degrees Celsius) hotter than the farce, with the thermal difference perhaps sustained by the radioactive decomposition of the titanium and titanium elements on the nearby side.
“The nearby and distant moon look very different, as evidenced by the differences in topography, the thickness of the bark and the number of heat producing elements inside,” Park said.
The diameter of the moon of approximately 2,160 miles (3,475 kilometers) is a little more than a quarter of the earth’s diameter. The lunar mantle is the layer located under the bark and above the nucleus, which covers a depth of approximately 22-870 miles (35-1,400 km) below the surface. The mantle constitutes approximately 80% of the mass and the volume of the moon and is mainly composed of olivine and pyroxen minerals, similar to the mantle of the earth.
“The fact that the asymmetry detected in the mantle coincides with the pattern of surface geology, for example, the differences in the abundance of the mare basalts of approximately three billion years (volcanic rock) between the nearby side and the distant part, suggests that the processes that promoted the old active lunar volcanism today,” said the planetist of the planetist of the Caltéquico planetary of the Caltéquic CALTECH COMPUTIONAL CO-COOUTER, CO-AUUTHOR ALEX, CO-AUUTHOR, COOUTHOR, CO-AEXE, COOUTHOR, CO-AEUTOR, CO-AEUTOR, CO-CO-CO-CO-AEUT. Jet Propulsion Laboratory that works in the design of gravity sensors for missions to the external solar system.
The researchers spent years analyzing data on the Grail and Flow spacecraft, which orbit the Moon from December 2011 to December 2012.
“Our study offers the most detailed and precise gravitational map of the moon to date,” Park said.
“This improved gravity map is a critical basis for developing positioning, navigation and time (PNT) systems (PNT), which are essential for the success of future lunar exploration missions. By improving our understanding of the gravity field of the moon, it contributes to establish a precise lunar reference frame and a lunar time system, which allows the internship and the most reliable internship for the surface and the surface surface Reliable, “the park added.
The same approach used here using gravity data to evaluate the lunar interior, the researchers said, could be applied to other bodies in the Solar System, such as the Luna Lady of Saturn and Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede, two worlds of interest in the search for a potential life beyond the earth.
Meanwhile, the new findings add to the understanding of the Eternal Companion of the Earth.
“The Moon plays a vital role in stabilization of earth rotation and the generation of ocean tides, which influence natural systems and daily rhythms,” Park said. “Our knowledge of the Moon has expanded through human and robotic missions that have revealed details about its surface and interior, however, many questions remain about its deep structure and history. As our closest neighbor, the Moon remains an important focus of scientific discovery.”
