NASA, the US Space Agency, released last Thursday (27) unprecedented images of a meteorite impact crater on Mars.🇧🇷 As a result of the impact, part of the surface was excavated, which showed the presence of ice. The discovery was made in December 2021, but the presentation in the scientific journal Science took place only last week.

A meteor 5 to 12 meters wide that fell on the Red Planet opened a crater ten times larger than usual on Mars.🇧🇷 Details provided by NASA indicate that an open hole was responsible for creating a space 150 meters in diameter and 21 meters deep. For understanding, this is the equivalent of the height of a seven-story building.

The impact caused by the meteorite is celebrated by scientists and researchers as one of the largest since they began to explore Mars. According to NASA, the crater formed by the meteorite was only discovered in February of this year, almost three months after the fall. Meteors falling on the Red Planet are nothing new for the space agency. This is because they claimed it happens “all the time”. However, the influence of this proportion is considered rare.

The result of this was the discovery of a layer of ice at the bottom of the crater formed by the meteorite. Scientists have found frozen water on other occasions, but the celestial body helped NASA by being able to dig even deeper than was possible. When asked about the possibility of ice from the meteorite, the space agency indicated that the impact would destroy any type of material, raising confidence that it was something from Mars.

NASA’s new discovery is considered extremely important for the space agency. In addition to being something extremely interesting for research, it serves as a guide for spatial orientation planning, in addition to being something that can be converted into water, oxygen, and other elements.

The impact provided rare seismic activity on Mars

The US space agency estimated that the collision could also send materials as far as 37 kilometers away. The force of the impact was also supposed to cause a push with a force of 4 points.

However, since there is almost no seismic activity on Mars, this can be considered an important event for the Red Planet. These seismic data were collected by Iander InSight, a NASA robot that collects various data about the planet. According to scientists, the record of an earthquake of this magnitude is considered rare by researchers, and that it will be seen again in “decades or generations.”

Despite the successful discovery made by InSight, everything points to the robot having completed a mission to Mars. Launched in May 2018, it arrived on the Red Planet in November of that year. Since then, he has helped scientists with several analyzes, but excess dust on the solar panels interferes with his work. As such, NASA believes it will have four to eight weeks before the battery runs out completely.

An asteroid 20 times the size of Christ the Redeemer is approaching Earth
There is no risk of collision with our planet, the celestial body is under the supervision of the space agency

Via: CNN

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