Magnetic Sounding of Mars

ended

Magnetic sounding is a powerful tool to explore the interior structure of a planetary body because electrical conductivity carries information on mineralogy, temperature and volatile content. We propose to apply this to Mars and thus shed light on important questions such as crustal water and therefore habitability of extraterrestrial bodies. Magnetic sounding relies on the principle that external fields induce currents in the subsurface. These induced responses provide information on subsurface electrical conductivity structure and can be measured from orbit and on the ground. While a range of techniques have mainly been developed for terrestrial investigations, this field of study has mostly been unexplored for other planets. Here, the magnetic field environment dictates the nature and geometry of the inducing external fields, and often times limited data sets pose new challenges. We plan to fully exploit martian data sets from orbit and on the ground to (1) characterize the magnetic field environment of Mars and (2) explore the electrical conductivity structure within the planet. This project will also pave the way for applying magnetic sounding methodologies to other terrestrial bodies, including Merurcy or the Moon. The deep interior of a planet or moon carries information on its formation and evolution and contributes to the goals of ongoing planetary missions such as the InSight mission to Mars. InSight, the first surface mission equipped with a magnetometer landed on Mars last fall and the host professor and the candidate are involved as Co-PI on the seismometer team and as science investigator on the magnetometer team, respectively. This Fellowship will therefore contribute and further consolidate ETH involvement with InSight. Finally, Martian seismic activity thus far seems to originate mainly in the crust and complementary investigations using magnetic sounding will improve our understanding of crust and mantle structure and its relations to marsquakes.