Meteorite impacts on the surface of Mars may have a much greater impact on the planet than previously thought. This conclusion was reached by planet scientists, using an artificial intelligence algorithm to compare the appearance of new impact craters in images obtained by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter with seismic data collected by the landing module InSight.
The InSight landing module operated on Mars for four years, recording “Mars tremors.” By the time the mission ended in 2022, it had recorded 1,300 seismic events, many of which were caused by meteorite impacts. In some cases, astronomers have been able to correlate this data with recent impacts detected by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The orbiter repeatedly photographs the same areas of the surface, which allows them to find new craters by comparing old and new images.
However, manually analyzing thousands of images would take humans years, so the InSight team used an AI-powered algorithm to speed up the process. The program found 123 craters on Mars, 49 of which corresponded to Mars tremors recorded by InSight.
The researchers primarily focused on a 21.5-meter diameter crater located in a region known as Cerberus Fossae. Scientists were surprised to find that the crater was 1,640 kilometers away from where InSight detected the seismic shock. The energy of the wave indicated that the shock occurred much closer, as Mars’ crust tends to attenuate such waves. The farther the energy wave propagates through the crust, the weaker it becomes.
This led scientists to believe that the seismic wave took a more direct path through the planet’s mantle. “We used to think that the energy detected from the vast majority of seismic events propagated exclusively within the Martian crust,” explains Konstantinos Haralambous of Imperial College London, who works on the InSight project. – This discovery shows the existence of a deeper and faster path – a kind of seismic highway – through the mantle, allowing seismic waves to reach more distant regions of the planet”.
The discovery of a “seismic highway” in the mantle of Mars is important for understanding the internal structure of the Red Planet and the processes taking place in its interior. It can help further study the geologic history and assess potential seismic activity. The InSight mission ended three years ago, but scientists continue to analyze the data collected, hoping to get an even more complete picture of the internal structure of Mars and the dynamics of its seismic processes.
