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At least meteorites were formed (name given when rocks touch the planet’s surface). three craters in the volcanic region of Elysium Planitia, which are located between 85 and 290 kilometers from the seismometer from NASA, InSight. This was precisely InSight’s unprecedented mission when it arrived on Mars in 2018: to record the seismic and sound waves created by an impact on Martian soil for the first time. Another of the missions is to detect the remaining type of earthquakes on the planet.
So far, the fixed station InSight detected more than 1,300 earthquakesbut even this “dramatic” event had no impact record, which was odd given the proximity of the asteroid belt and the absence of a dense Earth-like atmosphere preventing rocks from reaching the surface.
Researchers have now found that between 2020 and 2021, there were at least three more of these impacts. Knowing this “signature” left by the meteoroids, researchers can review all the data already collected looking for the same type of “bloop”.
If you’re still wondering how the impact of a meteoroid on Mars doesn’t sound like an explosion or collapse in a quarry, the explanation lies in the atmosphere itself – and which has also been recorded in the deserts of Earth: low sounds come before high sounds.
But what is the purpose of measuring earthquakes and impacts on Mars? In addition to man’s inherent interest in wanting to know more, low-magnitude earthquakes (such as those caused by these impacts) provide information about the crust of Mars, and higher-magnitude earthquakes can reveal information about the interior, mantle and core. .
Furthermore, “Impacts are the clock of the solar system”, said Raphael Garcia, first author and researcher at the Higher Institute of Space Aeronautics, in Toulouse (France). The number of craters caused by the impacts is an approximation of the age of the surfaces and the rocks that compose them: more craters, older.
Despite the important and interesting mission entrusted to InSight, the station is in a race against time: as Martian dust covers its solar panels and it becomes increasingly difficult to replenish energy, the support team knows the machines will shut down soon (between October of this year and January 2023).
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