Riddle on the “Red Planet”: Mars is spinning faster and faster

Our neighboring planet Mars is full of mysteries. According to NASA, the red planet is now revealing another mystery: its rotation. According to measurements, Mars should rotate faster and faster.

NASA wants to launch the first manned mission to Mars in 2040 – Elon Musk wants to be ready by 2029 and visit the Red Planet. Until then, it would certainly not be a shame to discover one or another mystery about our neighboring planet: for example, why Mars should be spinning faster and faster, as measurements were now supposed to show.

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Year after year, Mars is gaining momentum

Researchers have been studying the red planet for 40 years. However, not much can be learned about Neptune. The space probe InSight mission, which ends in 2022, puts the researchers at least one step further in terms of data: In assessments, NASA now claims to have discovered that Neptune is said to be spinning faster by about four milliseconds each year. According to Nature, the day on Mars is shortened by a fraction of a millisecond.

Why Mars must rotate faster each year has not been definitively explained. But assumptions are made: either the ice on the planet’s polar caps is responsible for the faster rotation. or “Raising Lands After the Ice Age”. According to the “Welt” website, land masses rise on the surface of the planet after being buried by ice. Hence a shift in the planet’s mass could cause it to accelerate.

In order to determine the most likely cause of the acceleration of Mars’ rotation, scientists now want to conduct a more detailed analysis. “We put a lot of time and energy into setting up the experiment and anticipating these discoveries. But we were surprised along the way – and it’s not over yet.” There is “a lot that can be revealed about Mars,” said astronomer Sebastien Le Maestre of the Royal Belgian Observatory in Brussels, who was involved in the study.