What new methods can be developed to study the Martian subsurface? This is what a recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Planets hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated how the size of impact crater ejecta could help scientists study the underlying material of Mars, specifically regarding if ice is present. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand subsurface materials on planetary bodies throughout the solar system, leading to greater insights into its formation and evolution.
Impact crater ejecta, also called an ejecta blanket, is produced from meteorite impacts, resulting in the underlying material to overturn, enabling scientists to study what’s underneath, as the material becomes inverted when it’s overturned. This means that what’s on top of the ejecta blanket is the deepest material, revealing specific layers that were unobservable before the impact.
For the study, the researchers used a combination of orbiter data computer models to analyze how crater ejecta blanket size could be influenced by the underlying material. In the end, the researchers found that the underlying material influences ejecta blankets size and patterns.
Composite image showing a computer model of a crater ejecta blanket compared to the ejecta blanket obtained by NASA's HiRISE camrea. (Credit: NASA/Aleksandra Sokolowska)
“The differences in ejecta radius can be quite large, and we predict that they could be measured from orbit with the HiRISE camera onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,” said Dr. Aleksandra Sokolowska, who is a UKRI Fellow at Imperial College London and lead author of the study. “Once the method is thoroughly tested, it could become a promising new tool for investigating subsurface properties. Turning this proof-of-concept work into a tool is the subject of my current fellowship at Imperial.”
Along with Mars, this new method could be used to study ejecta blankets on other rocky worlds throughout the solar system, specifically on ocean worlds like Europa and Enceladus where an icy crust overlays a subsurface ocean.
What new discoveries about the Martian subsurface will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Journal of Geophysical Research Planets, EurekAlert!