A Mars lander caught a meteoroid striking the ground on the surface of Mars lives. The impact created a new crater.
Meteoroid Strike On Mars
Last Christmas Eve (December 24), NASA’s InSight lander captured a marquake (earthquake on Mars). At the time, scientists thought it was just a quake and nothing more.
After almost a year of studies, scientists have now published two scientific papers on Thursday, October 27, stating that this was in fact a meteoroid striking Mars.
Researchers have also been able to fly over the area that was impacted to see exactly what it was.
The meteoroid’s estimated size ranged from 16 to 39 feet (5 to 12 meters). This is so little that it would have burnt up in the atmosphere of our planet, but not in the thin atmosphere of Mars, which is just 1% as dense.
The impact, which occurred in an area known as Amazonis Planitia, created a crater that was 70 feet (21 meters) deep and 492 feet (150 meters) broad.
Some of the impact’s ejecta were launched up to 23 miles (37 kilometers) in the air.
