NASA’s InSight lander may have made its final pass. The lander detected a marsquake in Mars’ Amazonis Planitia area on December 24th, 2021, which turned out to be a meteoroid impact – the first time any mission has observed a crater developing on the planet. Scientists discovered this after examining before-and-after images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which revealed a 492-foot gash in the surface.
The meteoroid was estimated to be between 16 and 39 feet long. It would have been destroyed in Earth’s atmosphere, yet it was massive enough to withstand Mars’ ultra-thin atmosphere. The impact was powerful, excavating a 70-foot-deep hole and flinging debris up to 23 kilometers away from the crater. It also revealed underlying ice that had previously been unseen so near to Mars’ equator. A sound adaption of Insight data (below) demonstrates how “loud” the event was in comparison to Mars’ normal activity.
