NASA Mars Mission Shocker: New Discovery On Red Planet Surprises Scientists

There is much to be discovered on Planet Mars even if various scientists from international space agencies all over the world have already spent years studying the Red Planet. Because of its geological makeup, Mars offers a viable option where humans can actually start a colony in the future. This is why scientists have spent years trying to determine how life could thrive on the alien planet.

We already know a few things about Mars based on data beamed back by instruments such as NASA’s rovers and orbiters including land features, its weak atmosphere and even Mars’ extreme radiation. We also know that there could be large bodies of water that are still present underground on Planet Mars, a sign that life could also be lurking somewhere.

Now some new discoveries are emerging that add more mystery to Earth’s cousin planet. NASA lander Insight, for example, sent some interesting data back to Earth about a mysterious magnetic pulsing sound which is said to have happened at midnight back on the Red Planet. The sound is described as “perfectly timed” and naturally raised the interest of researchers back on Earth. The source of the pulsating sound is so far unknown.

But according to a report by the National Geographic, that’s just one of the most interesting reports beamed back by the Insight lander. During a joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American Astronomical Society, information from the lander suggests that “the magnetic machinations of Mars are marvelously mad.”

Aside from the midnight pulsing sound, the lander also discovered that the Martian crust actually has a powerful magnetic force — far stronger than what most scientists have expected.

And that’s not all. The Insight lander was also able to determine that Planet Mars has a “very peculiar electrically conductive layer, about 2.5 miles thick, deep beneath the planet’s surface.”

Now what this could mean still needs further studies, but scientists believe that this could be proof that points to where the planet’s largest reservoir of liquid water is located. The significance of this finding could finally help scientists determine if it’s possible to live on Planet Mars and also prove that there’s already life thriving beneath its surface.

“We’re getting an insight into Mars’s magnetic history in a way we’ve never had before,” Paul Byrne, a planetary geologist at North Carolina State University who heard about the study, commented on the discovery.