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The moment of inertia of Mars
Author(s) -
Kaula William M.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl006i003p00194
Subject(s) - tharsis , moment of inertia , hydrostatic equilibrium , mars exploration program , axial symmetry , physics , geology , geodesy , rotational symmetry , principal axis theorem , inertia , symmetry (geometry) , classical mechanics , mechanics , geophysics , martian , geometry , mathematics , astrobiology , astronomy , quantum mechanics
The non‐hydrostatic contribution to the oblateness is calculated based on the single assumption that non‐hydrostatic contributions to the moments‐of‐inertia are axially symmetric about the principal axis in the direction of the Tharsis dome. The correction to J 2 is thereby −2J 22 , in numerical value equal to that obtained by Reasenberg by a more complicated technique. The resulting C/MR² is 0.365. The error in these values depends entirely on the extent to which mass irregularities depart from axial symmetry around Tharsis, which plausibly would not be great.