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Mars is being bombarded by meteorites 2,5 times more frequently than previously thought, and seismic waves are traveling deeper and faster, forming a kind of “seismic highway.” These findings are the result of a detective story that began when NASA’s InSight lander recorded seismic waves from a meteorite impact on February 3, 2021.
Artificial intelligence played a crucial role in the discovery and study of new impact craters on MarsThe technology has allowed scientists to analyze thousands of orbital images in a matter of hours, doing work that would previously have taken a human years.
Detective story on Mars
A space rock that crashed into the surface of Mars left a crater 21 meters wide. The impact sent seismic waves 1640 miles (2018 kilometers) before reaching the InSight lander, which has been operating as a seismograph on the Red Planet since XNUMX.
Mars is particularly vulnerable to space impacts due to two key factors. Its proximity to the asteroid belt makes it a target for space debris. Its thin atmosphere, which is 100 times thinner than Earth's, provides little protection.
Before the advent of artificial intelligence, scientists manually scanned images of the Martian surface. This process was extremely slow and laborious. Trained AI algorithms are now able to sift through tens of thousands of images from orbiters in a short time.
Unexpected discoveries beneath the surface
The breakthrough came while studying a crater in the Cerberus Pits region. The 21,5-meter-wide crater was almost twice as far from InSight as calculations based on the seismic energy of the recorded earthquake had predicted.
This discrepancy led scientists to an important conclusion: Seismic waves traveled deeper and faster through the Martian mantle. Such a discovery could significantly change our understanding of the Red Planet's interior.
“Without seismic data, we wouldn’t know where to look for impacts in orbital images, and without orbital images, we wouldn’t be able to find the source of the seismic energy that we detected with InSight.”, explained Tom Pike, a professor at Imperial College London and co-author of the study.
Significance for future Mars exploration
The discovery has several important implications for future missions. The connection between seismic data and orbital images will improve our understanding of the propagation of different types of acoustic waves on Mars. This will allow us to better assess the risks to robotic and future human missions.
The higher frequency of collisions has prompted the European Space Agency to accelerate the development of planetary defense technologies. The Space Security Program is actively working on systems to protect against space debris.
Studying the frequency and size of impact craters also helps scientists reconstruct the history of water on Mars, which is critical for assessing the planet's potential to once support life.
InSight was the first mission to explore the deep interior of Mars, and its data continues to significantly expand our understanding of the Red Planet's geological processes and seismic activity.
