NASA’s InSight Reveals Ancient Planetary Remains Preserved Deep Inside Mars

Dozens of strange forms deep within Mars could be the remains of ancient planets and could have shaped the planet's interior, researchers reported on Monday. A new study in Science, released on August 28, has detected dense blobs in the Martian mantle using seismic data collected by NASA's InSight lander. The structures, which can stretch for as long as 2.5 miles, are believed to be about 4.5 billion years old, from when colossal impacts were transforming the young solar system in major ways. The blobs may be leftovers from protoplanets that never grew into full-sized worlds and are perfectly preserved in Mars' immobile mantle.

InSight Data Unveils Ancient Blobs in Mars' Mantle, Preserved for Billions of Years

According to a NASA report, researchers examined data from over 1,300 Marsquakes recorded by InSight between 2018 and 2022. Researchers have found denser areas in Mars' mantle that probably came from somewhere else. This gives us the clearest view yet of the planet's hidden interior.

The findings point out that these relics were formed when protoplanets and other large bodies collided with Mars in the early solar system. Mars has no tectonic activity like Earth's, so structures like these can remarkably endure for billions of years.

Mars' mantle is believed to have changed more slowly than Earth's, and the lava fields that Earth's active geology would have wiped out survive there.

By mapping the layers of Mars' interior, InSight has revealed the Red Planet's role as a time capsule for evidence about the origins of the planet and the younger solar system.