Curtin University researchers have helped uncover the largest fresh meteor impact craters on Mars since NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter began scouring the planet 16 years ago.
On December 24, 2021, NASA InSight Lander recorded a magnitude five earthquake, which was recently discovered to be caused by a meteorite impact. One of the excavated meteorites contained ice at the lowest altitude ever observed on the planet, an important finding for NASA’s future exploration plans.
The discovery was assisted by two scientists from Curtin University, the only two Australian representatives on the NASA-led international research team. The research, titled ‘Largest recent impact craters on Mars: orbital imaging and surface seismic co-investigation,’ was published in the journal Science.
Discover craters with NASA technology
The meteorite is estimated to have spanned 16 to 39 feet, giving way to the rare discovery of two impact craters, both over 130 meters in diameter each. The craters, believed to be among the largest craters ever seen to form in the solar system, were detected using NASA imaging technology and seismometers. Larger crates exist on Mars, but they predate any mission to the planet.
Research co-author, Associate Professor Katarina Miljkovic, Curtin’s Space Science and Technology Center and School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said: “In addition to NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter imager, the NASA InSight seismometers were operating in the second half of 2021, which is when these impacts were recorded as having occurred.
“They detected these impact events as a large seismic activity, or ‘bang’, first as the meteorite passed through the atmosphere and then again as it hit the ground.
“Impact events happen all the time on Earth and Mars, but usually involve small rocks from space that just graze the atmosphere. Occasionally we get impacts that can penetrate deeper in the atmosphere to form a perceptible bang in the atmosphere or on the ground, which was the case here.
The Importance of Studying Meteor Impact Events
The size of the meteorite impacts, which occurred in a region called Amazonis Planitia, generated the only two earthquakes known to have been caused by it, said study co-author, PhD student Andrea Rajšić, who completed the research at Curtin’s Space. Science and Technology Center.
The earthquake caused by this impact is the first to have surface waves rippling across the earth’s crust.
“There aren’t many large earthquakes detected on Mars, whether caused by interior geological forces or, in this case, external impacts, but when they do occur they help map the deep interior of Mars,” Rajšić said.
“Impact events are extremely useful in seismology because they can be viewed as a constrained seismic source with a known location. It’s a fantastic way to peek into the interior structure of the Red Planet.
One of the meteor impacts had carved out large chunks of buried ice closer to the Martian equator than ever before. These discoveries will help contribute to our current understanding of the water reservoir on Mars.
Associate Professor Miljkovic said: “This knowledge is useful for many reasons, from the potential future habitation of Mars by humans and their ability to locate water as a resource, to fundamental understanding of the structure of Mars in as a planet. If we want to understand the formation and evolution of our own planet, we must also understand the other terrestrial planets.
Dr. Rajšić completed his doctoral studies contributing to this work at the Space Science and Technology Center in Curtin. Curtin’s part of this research was funded by the Australian Research Council.
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