This conclusion was reached by an international team of scientists led by Ingrid Daubar, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Brown University (USA). Therefore, colonizing Mars may not be the best idea, considering its extraordinary geological activity.
According to a new study, the frequency of meteoroid collisions on Mars can be 2 to 10 times higher than previously assumed, depending on their size.
“Mars is probably more geologically active than we thought, which has implications for the age and evolution of the planet’s surface,” said Dr. Daubar.
During the study, her team used data from a highly sensitive seismometer installed on NASA’s InSight lander. They discovered eight new impact craters from meteoroids that scientists had not observed before.
A meteoroid is a mini-asteroid (not exceeding 30 meters in diameter) that travels through space. It leaves a bright trail behind it – a meteor. A meteoroid that has already fallen to the surface of a planet is called a meteorite.
The observed frequency of impacts on the surface of Mars challenges established estimates of how often meteoroids strike the planet. The discovery prompts scientists to reconsider models of Martian crater formation, taking into account higher impact velocities for meteoroids, especially smaller ones.
The results could ultimately change current perceptions of Mars’ surface, as well as how meteoroids affect other planets.
“This will require us to rethink some of the models that the scientific community uses to assess the age of planetary surfaces throughout the Solar System,” said Ingrid Daubar.
What else did the researchers find out?
Six out of the eight identified craters were located near the landing site of the InSight spacecraft. The two more distant craters turned out to be the largest scientists have observed on Mars in years. They formed within just 97 days of each other, suggesting a higher frequency of these kinds of events. Each of those two craters is about the size of a football field, the publication Sci.News reported.
According to the study’s leader, scientists expected that collisions of this magnitude would be seen once every two decades or even once in a lifetime. However, two collisions that occurred more than 90 days apart changed researchers’ perceptions. “It could be a crazy coincidence, but the probability of that is very, very low,” Daubar said. “Either the two major collisions are related, or the frequency of collisions on Mars is much higher than we assumed.”
Of course, meteoroid collisions with planets occur constantly throughout the Solar System. By studying Mars’ geological activity, scientists can compare these results with data from Earth, for example. The conclusions of the study were published in the journal Science Advances.
