By Tim Binnall
A NASA device designed to study seismic activity on Mars has captured the peculiar 'sound' of a meteoroid striking the Red Planet. According to a press release, the detection was made by the space agency's InSight Lander, which was deployed on Mars in 2018 in an effort to collect data on marsquakes. While the instrument was able to document a whopping 1,300 such events, astronomers behind the mission were stumped by the lack of meteoroid impacts picked up by the lander until a moment last September when a space rock finally struck the planet with a rather dramatic effect.
In a video (seen above) showcasing the 'sound' made by the event, one can hear three distinct noises wherein the meteoroid enters the atmosphere, breaks apart shortly thereafter, and then finally hits the ground. The final sound is particularly strange as it resembles what the space agency described as a 'bloop.' They explained that the unique noise is "due to a peculiar atmospheric effect heard when bass sounds arrive before high-pitched sounds." A later study of previous data unearthed three prior incidents of a meteoroid impacting Mars, all of which are detailed in a newly published scientific paper.
The meteoroid strike also allowed for a tremendous display of just how far our ability to study the science of the Red Planet has advanced in recent years as scientists were able to determine where the impact had occurred and then used the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to photograph the site. The image shows three colorful craters which were created by the event. Having now documented a certain instance of a meteoroid hitting the planet, astronomers say that they acquired a proverbial signature that can now be used to compare to prior data in order to find similar moments which may have previously gone unnoticed.