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Nasa unveiled this Thursday, October 27, having found the largest impact crater ever observed on Mars. This one was caused by a monumental meteorite that hit the ground of the red planet. Proof of this discovery: crater images of exceptional size, but also an unpublished recording.
Meteorite impacts are common on Mars (Insight detected more than 1,300 “Marsquakes” in total), but this one was special. It’s a huge meteorite that hit the planet Mars last December. The impact, of incredible force, caused a magnitude 4 earthquake detected by the probe InSight. An event confirmed in a second time by the images captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
Impressive shots on which we see the crater of a size never before observed by NASA: 150 meters wide, 21 meters deep. According to the researchers, the meteorite measured around 12 meters when it hit the red planet. The shock was so great that debris was discovered 37 km from the huge hole.
The other major discovery is the ice that was ejected from the ground during the impact even though the crater is located in one of the hottest areas of Mars. This ice – very pure – whose presence had been detected on the red planet by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2009. For NASA, this discovery opens up a new field of possibilities.