The Mars lander's seismometer picked up vibrations and sounds from four impacts in the past two years, a development detailed in a study co-authored by Brown planetary scientist Ingrid Daubar.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - NASA's InSight Mars lander has detected seismic waves from four space rocks that crashed on Mars in 2020 and 2021.
Not only do these represent the first impacts detected by the spacecraft's seismometer since InSight touched down on Mars in 2018, but it also marks the first time seismic and acoustic waves from an impact have been detected on the red planet -a development providing scientists a new way to study Mars's crust, mantle and core.
A new study published in Nature Geoscience - on which Brown University Assistant Professor (research) of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Ingrid Daubar is a co-author - details the impacts, which ranged between 53 and 180 miles from InSight's location, a region of Mars called Elysium Planitia.
"It was super exciting," Daubar recalled of the impacts. "My favorite images are the ones of the craters themselves. After three years of waiting for an impact, those craters looked beautiful."
Of the four confirmed meteoroids, which is the term used for space rocks before they hit the ground, the first one the team found made the most dramatic entrance: It entered Mars' atmosphere on Sept. 5, 2021, exploding into at least three shards that each left craters behind.
