Meteorite Crash Reveals Huge Chunks Of Ice On Mars
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On December 24, 2021, NASA's InSight lander recorded a magnitude four quake on Mars. At first, scientists had no idea what had caused the tremor. However, that changed in February 2022 when the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a new crater on the Red Planet's surface. Researchers connected the dots from both missions and realized that a meteoroid had struck Mars.
The space rock is believed to be about 16 to 39 feet (5 to 12 meters) in diameter. The small rock would have burned up in Earth's atmosphere. However, the meteoroid easily pierced through the thin Martian atmosphere. The 492-foot (150 meters) wide and 70-foot (21 meters) deep crater it created is not the Red Planet's largest. But it is the biggest one formed since NASA scientists began observing Mars.
"It's unprecedented to find a fresh impact of this size," said Ingrid Daubar, who leads InSight's Impact Science Working Group. "It's an exciting moment in geologic history, and we got to witness it."
Even better, the space rock helped uncover huge chunks of ice buried near the Martian equator. Previous missions had found traces of ice at the planet's poles. But this is the first time ice has been found so close to the warm equator. The exciting findings were revealed in the journal Science on October 27, 2022.
"This is really an exciting result," said Lori Glaze, NASA's director of planetary science. "We know, of course, that there's water ice near the poles on Mars. But in planning for future human exploration of Mars, we'd want to land the astronauts as near to the equator as possible, and having access to ice at these lower latitudes, that ice can be converted into water, oxygen, or hydrogen. That could be really useful."
Resources: CNN.com, Science.org, NASA.gov
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124 Comments
jamesomabout 18 hoursI thought mars was ♨🌶 hot
moviestarmaxabout 1 monthI hope humans can live on Mars!! My uncle is NASA's Director of Space Exploration
bob_the_builder2 monthsCool. This means we might be able to live on Mars!
crowfl00fs2 monthsall tho, its ice bc its so cold there. but i hope we are able to find life on there.
iseforlifeabout 1 monthSeriously I said that when watching the videos
blaisel3052 monthswhat if there are life forms frozen in ice- blaisel3052 monthsproof that there is water on mars
theartistloph2 monthsEarth's plan B.
uwuandowo3 monthsI thought mars was supposed to be hot
becas2 monthsMars's average temperature is -81 Fahrenheit, though it can range from -220 F to around 70 F, so you aren't really that far off. Also, Mars's atmosphere is mostly Carbon Dioxide, resulting in these freezing cold temperatures. So ice can stay frozen
#Foxgirl :)3 monthsHow cool!
elias3455433 monthsHow is that possible
33rathodn2 monthsIt is possible!