NASA unveiled images of a 150-meter-diameter meteor crater observed on Mars on Thursday. Never seen.
New revelations on the red planet. NASA announced Thursday that it had discovered a gigantic meteorite impact on Mars, the largest ever observed.
The images, taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), show a crater 150 meters in diameter and 20 meters deep, surrounded by blocks of ice that have been thrown to the surface.
Working together, two @NASAMars the spacecraft, one on the ground and one in orbit, detected a large meteorite crashing into the Red Planet. The result was confirmed earlier this year: https://t.co/4ofuP8MXId pic.twitter.com/eVMFbBOY7U
– NASA (@NASA) October 27, 2022
Meteorite of 12 meters
The impact of the meteorite, which occurred on December 24, 2021, was detected at the time by the seismometer of the Insight probe, present on Mars since 2018. NASA also released an audio recording of the earthquake.
NASA estimates that the meteorite that crashed on the Red Planet measured about 12 meters, which on Earth would have led to its disintegration in the atmosphere.
The valuable information gathered should help sharpen knowledge of the interior of Mars and the history of its formation. The presence of buried ice at the impact site, near the Martian equator, is of particular interest to scientists.
