Two large meteorite impacts on Mars could offer a vital insight into how the red planet was formed. Scientists are analysing data from the crashes, which created big craters more than 130 metres in diameter.
Nasa’s InSight lander – which touched down on Mars in 2018 – recorded the vibrations caused by both impacts, which happened at different times in the latter half of 2021. These vibrations, or seismic surface waves, gave scientists an insight into the structure of the Martian crust, which may hold important clues about the origin and evolution of the planet.
Doyeon Kim, a geophysicist and senior research scientist at ETH Zurich’s Institute of Geophysics, said: “This is the first time seismic surface waves have been observed on a planet other than Earth. Not even the Apollo missions to the Moon managed it.”
