Overview
- Researchers have linked 49 marsquakes detected by NASA's InSight lander to meteoroid impacts, challenging previous assumptions that most quakes were tectonic in origin.
- A 2021 impact in the Cerberus Fossae region created a 21-meter-wide crater and sent seismic waves directly through Mars' mantle, traveling farther and faster than expected.
- Machine learning tools were instrumental in analyzing tens of thousands of Mars images, identifying fresh craters and matching them to seismic data from InSight.
- The findings suggest that meteoroid impacts occur 1.5 to 2.5 times more frequently on Mars than previously estimated, with implications for future human and robotic missions.
- These results refine scientists' models of Mars' interior and seismic activity, providing new insights into the planet's crust, mantle, and core structure.