Our understanding of what it might take to live on Mars is one step closer, with new Australian Research Council (ARC) funded research from Curtin University published this month.
Scientists from Western Australia are part of an international research team to discover ice at the lowest altitude ever observed.
According to Curtin University’s Associate Professor Katarina Miljkovic, the information will contribute to the understanding of the Mars subsurface water ice reservoir.
“This knowledge is useful for many reasons, from the potential future habitation of Mars by humans and their ability to locate water as a resource to the fundamental understanding of the structure of Mars as a planet,” Miljkovic said.
“If we are to understand the formation and evolution of our own planet, we ought to understand other terrestrial planets too.”
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, owned by NASA, began scoring Mars about 16 years ago. By analysing data from NASA’s imaging technology and seismometers, researchers found the largest fresh meteorite impact craters to hit Mars occurred in the second half of 2021.
Miljkovic and PhD student Andrea Rajšić from Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences were the only Australian representatives on the NASA-led international research team.
Both academics helped make the rare discovery of the 2021 meteorite impacts on the red planet, measuring 130 meters in diameter each.
Miljkovic explained that while meteorite-impact events were common on both Earth and Mars, they were usually only small rocks that “grazed the atmosphere”. In this case, the two meteors penetrated deeper into the atmosphere of Mars to create a “noticeable bang” in the atmosphere or on the ground.
“As well as NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter imager, the NASA InSight seismometers were operating in the second half of 2021, which is when these impacts were recorded as having occurred,” Miljkovic said.
“They have detected these impact events in the form of large seismic activity or a ‘bang’, firstly as the meteorite passed through the atmosphere and then again as it hit the ground.”
Rajšić, whose PhD studies contributed to the Space Science and Technology Centre’s work on the NASA project, said it was rare to detect large quakes on Mars.
“When they do occur, they help with deep-interior mapping of Mars,” Rajšić said.
“Impact events are extremely helpful in seismology because they can be considered as a constrained seismic source with a known location. This is a fantastic way to peek into the interior structure of the Red Planet.”
The findings were published in a paper entitled ‘Largest recent impact craters on Mars: Orbital imaging and surface seismic co-investigation’ for Science last week.
:
Any feedback or news tips? Here’s where to contact the relevant team.