NASA discovers ancient rocks hidden deep under the surface of Mars

Debris from giant impacts that occurred some 4.5 billion years ago has been discovered deep below the surface of Mars by NASA's InSight lander, which completed its mission in 2022.

Rocks from ancient meteorite impacts have been discovered scattered within the Martian mantle, providing new insights into the Red Planet's internal structure and its turbulent early history.

Debris from giant impacts that occurred about 4.5 billion years ago has been discovered deep below the surface of Mars by NASA's InSight lander, which completed its mission in 2022, according to a study published on August 28 in the journal Science .

Ancient collisions released enough energy to melt entire continent-sized regions of the planet's early crust and mantle, forming magma oceans.

At the same time, fragments of meteorites and Martian rocks were also shot deep into the planet's interior.

Remnants from these impacts survive today as rocks up to 4km in diameter, scattered throughout the Martian mantle.

“We have never seen this level of detail and sharpness inside any planet before,” said Constantinos Charalambous, lead author of the study at Imperial College London.

What the team observed, he said, was a mantle filled with ancient debris. The fact that it has survived to this day suggests that the Martian mantle evolved very slowly over billions of years. On Earth, such remnants would have been erased long ago.

The InSight lander did this thanks to its advanced seismometer system.

Since being placed on the surface of Mars by the InSight spacecraft in 2018, the device has recorded 1,319 tremors and provided detailed data for scientists to make groundbreaking discoveries./ .

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nasa-phat-hien-nhung-khoi-da-co-dai-an-sau-duoi-lop-phu-be-mat-sao-hoa-post1058685.vnp