New Impacts on Mars: Systematic Identification and Association With InSight Seismic Events
Abstract The InSight lander represents a unique opportunity to correlate seismic data with impact events identified in orbital images, enabling the characterization of the physical properties of the martian crust and mantle. Here, we present the first comprehensive catalog of impacts that occurred during the InSight mission within a 50° radius around the lander. We use a machine learning‐enabled approach to identify 123 date‐constrained impacts with diameters between ∼1 and 22.5 m. We estimate an impact rate of 2.7 × 10 −6 /km 2 /year for >3.9 m effective diameter, which is ∼1.6–∼2.5 times higher than previously derived for Mars. We identify 49 seismic events with one or several potential impact match(es) including a 21.5 m crater located near Cerberus Fossae. Our catalog will enable a more accurate characterization of the propagation of seismic body waves at intermediate distances to InSight (5–50°), with major implications for estimates of other seismic event distances.
Authors
- I. J. Daubar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9790-2972)
- Valentin Bickel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7914-2516)
- Constantinos Charalambous (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9139-3895)
- John Clinton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8626-2703)
- Kiri L. Wagstaff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4401-5506)
- W. T. Pike (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7660-6231)
- Domenico Giardini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5573-7638)
- Gary Doran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1233-2224)
- Benjamin Fernando (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7321-8401)
- Simon C. Stähler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0783-2489)
- Géraldine Zenhäusern (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9401-4910)
- A. Sokołowska (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4979-3043)
Institutions
- University of Bern (CH)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Brown University (US)
- Independent Sector (US)
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (US)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Imperial College London (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Published
- 2025-02-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl109133
- Citations
- 6
- Primary Topic
- Planetary Science and Exploration
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.93
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- UK Space Agency
- Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science
- Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris