A French device in the American Marslander InSight from space agency NASA has registered more than 1,300 quakes on Mars in the past four years. According to The New York Times, the quake recorded on Christmas Eve was unlike any previous quake because tremors were recorded along the red planet’s outer crust. “We were immediately excited about it,” scientist Mark Panning told the newspaper.
The impact of the space rock, estimated to be between 4.9 and 11.9 meters wide, created a 150 meter wide crater 3,500 kilometers away where the Mars lander InSight was located on the planet. Images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), a NASA unmanned space probe, showed the impressive crater.
Researcher Philippe Lognonne calls the sighting “the largest meteorite impact since scientific research has been done with seismographs”.
The discovery helps scientists better understand the red planet and is “a reminder that Mars, like Earth, can be hit by meteorites,” writes The New York Times.