Mars Scarred by Meteorite Impact : Big Pic
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Flying 160 miles (256 kilometers) above the Martian surface on Dec. 22, 2009, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shot a series of photos of the landscape below using its Context Camera (CTX). Mission operators quickly realized that one of the pictures had captured something that wasn't there before: a fresh meteorite crater measuring approximately 8 meters in diameter.
The CTX, as its name suggests, puts the high resolution images captured by MRO's other cameras into context, capturing wide-angle photographs to see more of the landscape. The CXT can then scout out targets for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). In this case, the target was this crater and HiRISE snapped a closer look.
The reason why the HiRISE team think this is a new impact crater is because the last photographs of the region were captured by NASA's Viking Orbiters in the 1970's. Although the HiRISE team point out that the crater and ejecta (the fanned pattern of debris that was ejected from the crater during impact) may have been blocked from view by a dust storm during the Viking campaign, it seems more likely that a meteor struck the Martian surface some time in the last few decades. Having said that, on closer examination, wind-formed ripples in the sand can be seen, features more commonly found inside older craters.
Although this crater may be considered "fresh," it's most likely that it appeared several years ago.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
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