Impact events on Mars

Although most have been inferred from the appearance of new impact craters on the planet, some have corresponded to marsquakes felt by the InSight lander.

As the best-explored planet in the Solar System (after Earth), Mars has been continuously explored by various spacecraft, landers, and rovers since 1997.

However, few early probes were able to image Mars in high enough resolution to detect new impact craters, which are typically less than 10 meters (33 ft) across.

The first detected impact, a 14.4-meter (47 ft)-diameter crater in southern Lucus Planum, happened between 27 January 2000, and 19 March 2001.

[5] Due to Mars's tenuous atmosphere, with just 0.6% the surface pressure of Earth's, incoming meteors are much less prone to breaking up.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a newly-formed Martian impact crater at Solis Planum in 2013. This crater spans 30 meters (98 ft) in diameter and is surrounded by dark ejecta rays extending up to 15 kilometers (9.3 mi).