Two NASA spacecraft at Mars have recorded the biggest meteor strikes and impact craters yet. The high-speed barrages last year sent seismic waves rippling thousands of miles across Mars, the first ever detected near the surface of another planet.
The impact observations come as InSight nears the end of its mission because of dwindling power, its solar panels blanketed by dust storms. InSight landed on the equatorial plains of Mars in 2018 and has since recorded more than 1,300 marsquakes.
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.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Space rock slams into Mars, forming a crater that revealed chunks of ice | CNNChristmas came a little early for NASA's InSight mission last December when the lander detected a massive quake on Mars. A space rock slammed into Mars on December 24, creating a crater and revealing ice buried near the Martian equator.
Read more »
Motley Crue Guitarist Mick Mars to Retire From Touring (EXCLUSIVE)Motley Crue guitarist and founding member Mick Mars will no longer tour with the band, although he will continue as a member, a rep for the musician tells Variety. The full statement reads: Mick Ma…
Read more »
2022’s Mars Retrograde In Gemini Is A Messy TransitThanks to a retrograde going down on October 30, we’re in for an extended journey.
Read more »
Clearing the Air on a Trip to Mars: the NASA Particle Partition Challenge!With $45,000 in prizes, NASA's Particle Partition Challenge is looking for innovative ideas on how to maintain breathable atmospheres for astronauts far from Earth.
Read more »
Magma on Mars may be bubbling underground right nowMarsquake data are helping researchers identify possible Red Planet volcanism.
Read more »