Zhurong rover detects extremely weak magnetic fields on surface of Mars’ Utopia Basin

A joint analysis workforce led by Prof. Du Aimin from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese language Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS) has discovered extraordinarily weak magnetic fields in the course of the Zhurong rover’s first 1-km traverse on Mars. This means no detectable magnetization anomalies beneath Zhurong’s touchdown website. The work was revealed in Nature Astronomy on June 19.

The researchers utilized two fluxgate magnetometers aboard the Zhurong rover to conduct the primary magnetic discipline survey within the Utopia Basin on the Martian floor. “The depth of the magnetic discipline was surprisingly weak within the Utopia Basin,” mentioned Prof. Du Aimin, first and corresponding writer of the examine.

Outcomes from NASA’s Mars’ lander InSight, which landed about 2,000 km southeast of Zhurong, have revealed that the crustal magnetic discipline at InSight’s touchdown website was an order stronger than that inferred from orbital measurement. Measurements from Zhurong, nonetheless, revealed the alternative end result, with the common depth an order lower than that inferred from orbit.

Methods to receive extremely exact planetary floor magnetic measurements is a good problem in planetary exploration. Zhurong is the primary rover geared up with magnetometers. The researchers carried out along-track calibration to separate the Martian magnetic discipline and rover interference discipline utilizing rover rotations and mast rotations. The accuracy of multi-point in-situ measurement of the Martian floor has reached the order of nanoteslas.

The extraordinarily weak magnetic fields detected by Zhurong indicate that both the crust beneath Utopia Basin could have remained unmagnetized since its formation about 4 billion years in the past or it was demagnetized by a later sizable influence within the early Hesperian. This new constraint on the timeline of the Martian dynamo sheds additional mild on the interconnected magnetic, climatic, and inside historical past of early Mars.