The Martian Nonhydrostatic Components of Moment-of-Inertia

The author puts forward the proposal in this paper that all the terrestrial planets (Venus, the Earth, and Mars) as well as the Moon deviate from hydrostatic equilibrium to some degree. The Earth's level of deviation of these four celestial bodies is minimum, and that of Mars is maximum. Moreover, the author estimates Martian nonhydrostatic components of the principal moments-of-inertia using five models for the interior of Mars. Comparison with other terrestrial planets shows that setting the range of mean moment-of-inertia ratio, I/MR², in 0.345 ~ 0.355for Mars is reasonable. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.