Mars Meteor Impact Caused Quake, Revealed Surprise Water Ice@TheCosmosNews

#thecosmosnews Meteoroid Impact on Mars Excavated Large Chunks of Water Ice, Planetary Scientists Say NASA images show a meteor crashed into Mars, triggered a big quake, and kicked up surprise water ice NASA’s InSight lander felt the ground shake during the impact while cameras aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the cavernous new crater from space. Last December 24, NASA’s InSight lander recorded a magnitude 4 marsquake. However, scientists only learned the cause of that quake later: a meteoroid impact estimated to be one of the biggest seen on Mars since NASA began exploring the cosmos. Furthermore, the meteoroid strike excavated boulder-size chunks of ice buried closer to the Martian equator than ever found before – a discovery with implications for NASA’s future plans to send astronaut explorers to the Red Planet. Researchers determined the quake resulted from a meteoroid impact when they spotted a new, yawning crater in before-and-after images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Offering a rare opportunity to see how a large impact shook the ground on Mars, the event and its effects are detailed in two scientific papers published on Thursday, October 27, in the peer-reviewed journal Science.