Despite Mars being a relatively dead planet, experts believe that it is still somewhat seismically active. However, many of the tremors that are detected by the InSight lander on the surface of the red planet are not caused by the inner workings of a still living world, but rather by asteroid impacts.
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00:00Despite Mars being a relatively dead planet, experts believe that it is still somewhat
00:08seismically active.
00:09However, many of the tremors that are detected by the InSight lander on the surface of the
00:13red planet are not caused by the inner workings of a still living world, but rather by asteroid
00:18impacts, and the number of them is absolutely astounding.
00:22According to recent data, Mars is smashed by at least basketball-sized asteroids almost
00:26every day, with the researchers writing, this rate was about five times higher than
00:30the number estimated from orbital imagery alone, with a study finding that there are
00:34between 280 and 360 impacts that create a crater 26 feet or larger every year.
00:41This is due largely to the fact that Mars' atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth's,
00:45meaning asteroids don't burn up as much when they enter it, leaving larger chunks that
00:48are able to slam into its surface.
00:50In addition, Mars is much closer to the main asteroid belt, meaning more asteroids in general.
00:55Experts say that combining this with seismic data, they can better understand the geological
01:00history and evolution of the planet, with the study outlining that you could think of
01:03it as a sort of cosmic clock to help us date Martian surfaces and maybe further down the
01:08line, other planets in the solar system.