NASA Insight detected a meteorite impact on Mars

On the morning of October 28, Beijing time, it was reported that on December 24, 2021, the NASA Insight lander detected a "Martian earthquake" in the Martian Amazonis Planitia area. At that time, researchers thought it was a "Martian earthquake." the latest study found that it was actually caused by a meteorite impact. Comparing the photos before and after, the researchers found a 492-foot-long crater on the surface of Mars.

Meteors are estimated to be 16-39 feet long and would be burned by the atmosphere if they were Earth, but the thin Martian atmosphere allowed them to "survive." The consequences of the impact were severe, with a 70-foot-deep crater on the surface and debris scattered as far as 23 miles (37 kilometers) from the crater. We can also see the surface ice, which appears very close to the Martian equator.

So far, Insight has detected about 1300 Martian earthquakes, 20 of which experts believe may have been magmatic activity. According to the analysis of the spectral characteristics of the Martian earthquake, the crust in the Martian Cerberus Fossae region may be relatively soft, which, combined with dark dust analysis, may indicate that Mars has been volcanic in the past 50, 000 years. At present, scientists argue about whether there are still active volcanoes on Mars, and there is no unanimous conclusion. The softer crust means that there is still magma inside Mars.