GRAVHEDRAL: a novel gravity inversion tool to shed light into planets’ interior

Advanced modelling methodolo- gies coupled with planetary-scale datasets provide fundamental information to reconstruct planets’ inte- rior and evolution. Planets’ crust is indeed a recorder of ancient geological events leading to heterogene- ous 3D density distributions, which in turn cause gravity anomalies. Beyond the Earth planet, robust evidence of nonhomogeneous crustal structures has been found even for other celestial bodies of our solar system. Looking at the Moon, spots of weak crustal remanent magnetization have been discov- ered globally [1] and these findings imply both het- erogeneous composition of lunar rocks and a global dynamo field in the past [2]. In addition, the gravity field was surveyed in unprecedented detail [3], al- lowing scientists to characterize the crust and identi- fy volcanic processes like ancient igneous intrusions across the lunar surface [4]. On Mars, heterogene- ously distributed crustal remanent magnetization in the absence of a current global magnetic field was identified [5], again implying heterogeneous compo- sition of crustal rocks and a past vigorously con- vecting core. Further, the recent InSight mission has allowed a detailed characterization of the landing site [6], providing key clues on heterogeneities in the Martian crust [7], also supported by recent evidence of an active plume independently supported by seis- mic and gravity/tectonic data [8].