NASA's InSight lander may soon be the last one on the surface of Mars, but it still provides valuable data to scientists.
The Red Planet's equivalent of an earthquake was detected by the landers on Christmas Eve last year.
It may have been one of the most significant rumbles on Mars since NASA began exploring the universe.
Now, thanks to data collected by the space agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers may have stumbled upon the cause: a powerful meteorite impact.
It's one of the largest meteorite impacts to have ever been seen directly in our solar system, NASA said, excavating a massive gash in the planet's surface and exposing a layer of ice beneath.
The blast zone is very close to the equator, which is considered to be a great place for astronauts to visit.
The team member said that it was unprecedented to find a fresh impact of this size. It's an exciting moment in geologic history and we have to watch it.
The meteoroid must have been between 16 and 39 feet in diameter. The atmosphere on Mars is thin enough to allow such a space rock to pass.
The impact left a crater almost 500 feet wide and 70 feet deep in the Amazonis Planitia.
The debris from the impact flew as far away as 23 miles.
Two papers were published in the journal Science today about the impact that sent ripples across the Martian surface.
The image of the impact was unlike any I had seen before, with the huge crater, exposed ice, and dramatic blast zone preserved in the Martian dust.
She said she couldn't help but imagine what it would have been like to see the impact.
The fact that our planet's atmosphere protects us from such impacts is a reminder.
Philippe Lognonné, lead author of one of the new papers, told The Washington Post that we can still sleep well on Earth.
He said that the atmosphere is protecting them.
There is a meteorite impact on Mars.
NASA's Mars landers refuse to die even though they are supposed to.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
