By studying these literal chunks of Mars, scientists are learning more about the Red Planet’s deep interior and impact history.
Planetary interiors
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Powerful Impact Provides Insight into Deep Structure of Mars
Seismic signals detected by the InSight lander show that the planet’s lower mantle may be less homogenous than previous models have suggested.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Abiotic Life and Energy on Water-Rich Rocky Celestial Bodies
The discovery of tiny crystals of the iron-rich hydroxychloride kuliginite in New Caledonia provides new insights into the hydrogen production from mantle rocks and saline water.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Ceres: Missing Craters, Crust Thickness Variation by Interior Convection
Models show that several puzzling features about Ceres’ topography, gravity anomalies, and crater size distribution may be explained by asymmetric hemispherical convection due to radiogenic heating.
Posted inNews
Flipping the Sequence of Martian Formation
Analysis of the Chassigny meteorite suggests the planet acquired most of its interior volatiles from meteorites, not from the solar nebula.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Constraining Martian Crustal Thickness with InSight Seismology
The first seismic observations from Mars significantly reduce uncertainty in estimates of the Red Planet’s crustal structure.
Posted inNews
Can Uranus’s Rings Reveal the Planet’s Deepest Secrets?
Planetary rings can act as seismometers that respond to changes deep within a planet.
Posted inNews
Mars from the InSight Out
There’s a seismometer on Mars, and it’s been busy! Download our free illustrated poster.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A Better Look at the Moon’s Middle Mantle
A new analysis strategy sheds new light on the electrical conductivity of the lunar mantle between 300 and 900 km depth.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Fingerprints of Jupiter Formation
Meteorite isotopes, meteorite paleomagnetics, and planet formation models collectively show Jupiter formation via first slow then fast collection of material by core accretion in <5 million years.