NASA spacecraft records new and larger meteorite impacts on Mars

Two NASA spacecraft have recorded the largest meteor strikes and A hit crater on Mars than ever before.

One of the spaceships is on the surface of Mars. The other orbits the planet.

The effects of last year produced seismic Waves that have traveled thousands of kilometers across Mars. These are the first seismic waves scientists have ever found near the surface of another planet. The impacts created craters nearly 150 meters wide, scientists reported Thursday in Science magazine.

The larger of the two punches threw out large chunks of ice. This information could help researchers find ways for future astronauts to take advantage of Mars’ natural resources.

The Insight lander measured the seismic waves, while the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provided images of the craters.

Liliya Posiolova of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego is one of the study researchers. She said scientists are fortunate to be able to match the seismic waves with images of the impact craters.

The atmosphere of Mars is thin. On Earth, the dense atmosphere prevents most space rocks from reaching the ground. Instead, the rocks break apart and burn up in the atmosphere.

InSight is nearing the end of its operations. His power gear is covered in dust from Martian storms and fails. InSight landed on Mars in 2018 and has since recorded more than 1,300 marsquakes. A marsquake is similar to an earthquake.

Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the lander’s chief scientist who participated in the studies, estimated that the lander had four to eight weeks before the power went out.

The space rocks are between 5 and 12 meters wide, Posiolova said. The larger of the two struck about 3,500 kilometers from InSight last December, leaving a crater about 21 meters deep. The orbiter’s cameras showed footage ejected up to 40 kilometers from the impact. They also showed patches of white ice around the crater, the most frozen water observed at such a low latitudessaid Posiolova.

Posiolova found the crater earlier this year after taking additional images of the region from orbit. The crater was missing in earlier photos. After reviewing older photos, the scientist dated the impact at the end of December. She also recalled a large seismic event recorded by InSight around this time. With the help of the Insight team, Posiolova connected the new hole to the strike.

Scientists also learned that both the lander and orbiter recorded a previous meteorite impact. It was more than twice as far away as December and a little smaller.

“Everyone was just shocked and astonished‘” Posiolova recalled.

Seismic readings from the two impacts indicate a denser Martian soil layer beyond InSight’s location.

Doyeon Kim from the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zurich in Switzerland was part of the research. He said scientists still have a lot to learn about depth Structure of Mars.

Outside scientists said future countries from Europe and China will carry even more advanced seismic wave detection equipment.

I’m Andrew Smith.

Marcia Dunn wrote this story for the Associated Press. Andrew Smith adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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words in this story

meteor –n. A boulder flying from space to a planet

A hit –n. the sudden, often powerful, impact of something or the physical area where an object has struck another object

crater –n. A hole in the ground caused by the impact of an object such as a meteor or a bomb

seismic –adj. refers to the vibration or shaking of a planet’s surface during events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or explosions

Broad –n. the distance of a place from the equator of a planet

astonish –v. to fill with sudden surprise, to amaze

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