The larger of the two strikes churned out boulder-size slabs of ice, which may help researchers look for ways future astronauts can tap into Mars’ natural resources.
The larger of the two struck last December some 2,200 miles from InSight, creating a crater roughly 70 feet deep. The orbiter’s cameras showed debris hurled up to 25 miles from the impact, as well as white patches of ice around the crater, the most frozen water observed at such low latitudes, Posiolova said.
Posiolova spotted the crater earlier this year after taking extra pictures of the region from orbit. The crater was missing from earlier photos, and after poring through the archives, she pinpointed the impact to late December. She remembered a large seismic event recorded by InSight around that time and with help from that team, matched the fresh hole to what was undoubtedly a meteoroid strike. The blast wave was clearly visible.
Scientists also learned the lander and orbiter teamed up for an earlier meteoroid strike, more than double the distance of the December one and slightly smaller.A spacecraft named DART crashed into an asteroid Monday to learn how to divert potentially deadly celestial bodies.
Outside scientists said future landers from Europe and China will carry even more advanced seismometers. Future missions will “paint a clearer picture” of how Mars evolved, Yingjie Yang and Xiaofei Chen from China’s Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen wrote in an accompanying editorial.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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