Is Mars home to the solar system's largest single impact scar?

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3488

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<p><strong><font size="2">Studies by Mars Reconaissance Orbiter & Mars Odyssey suggests that much of the northern hemisphere of Mars is one giant impact basin, dwarfing the Caloris Basin on Mercury & the Valhalla Basin on the Jupiter moon Callisto.</font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="2">The impactor may had been larger than Pluto or Eris.&nbsp;</font></strong></p><p><font color="#000080"><strong><font size="2">Article here.&nbsp;</font></strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong><font color="#003300">Edited. Just received the below from JPL on this very subject.</font></strong></font></p><p><font size="2" color="#800000">MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE <br />JET PROPULSION LABORATORY <br />CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY <br />NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION <br />PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011 <br /><font color="#000080">http://www.jpl.nasa.gov </font><br /><br /><br />Guy Webster&nbsp; 818-354-6278<br />Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. <br /><font color="#000080">guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov</font></font><br /><br /><font size="2" color="#800000">Steve Cole&nbsp; 202-358-0918<br />Headquarters, Washington &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov<br /><br />David Chandler&nbsp; 617-253-2704<br />Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge<br />dlc1@mit.edu<br /><br />NEWS RELEASE: 2008-119 June 25, 2008<br /><br />NASA Spacecraft Reveal Largest Crater in Solar System<br /><br />PASADENA, Calif. -- New analysis of Mars' terrain using NASA spacecraft observations <br />reveals what appears to be by far the largest impact crater ever found in the solar system.<br /><br />NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor have provided detailed <br />information about the elevations and gravity of the Red Planet's northern and southern <br />hemispheres. A new study using this information may solve one of the biggest remaining <br />mysteries in the solar system: Why does Mars have two strikingly different kinds of terrain in its <br />northern and southern hemispheres? The huge crater is creating intense scientific interest. <br /><br />The mystery of the two-faced nature of Mars has perplexed scientists since the first <br />comprehensive images of the surface were beamed home by NASA spacecraft in the 1970s. The <br />main hypotheses have been an ancient impact or some internal process related to the planet's <br />molten subsurface layers. The impact idea, proposed in 1984, fell into disfavor because the <br />basin's shape didn't seem to fit the expected round shape for a crater. The newer data is <br />convincing some experts who doubted the impact scenario.<br /><br />"We haven't proved the giant-impact hypothesis, but I think we've shifted the tide," said Jeffrey <br />Andrews-Hanna, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in <br />Cambridge. <br /><br />Andrews-Hanna and co-authors Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and <br />Bruce Banerdt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., report the new findings <br />in the journal Nature this week.&nbsp; <br /><br />A giant northern basin that covers about 40 percent of Mars' surface, sometimes called the <br />Borealis basin, is the remains of a colossal impact early in the solar system's formation, the new <br />analysis suggests. At 8,500 kilometers (5,300 miles) across, it is about four times wider than the <br />next-biggest impact basin known, the Hellas basin on southern Mars. An accompanying report <br />calculates that the impacting object that produced the Borealis basin must have been about 2,000 <br />kiolometers (1,200 miles) across. That's larger than Pluto.<br /><br />"This is an impressive result that has implications not only for the evolution of early Mars, but <br />also for early Earth's formation," said Michael Meyer, the Mars chief scientist at NASA <br />Headquarters in Washington.<br /><br />This northern-hemisphere basin on Mars is one of the smoothest surfaces found in the solar <br />system. The southern hemisphere is high, rough, heavily cratered terrain, which ranges from 4 to <br />8 kilometers (2.5 to 5 miles) higher in elevation than the basin floor. <br /><br />Other giant impact basins have been discovered that are elliptical rather than circular. But it took <br />a complex analysis of the Martian surface from NASA's two Mars orbiters to reveal the clear <br />elliptical shape of Borealis basin, which is consistent with being an impact crater. <br /><br />One complicating factor in revealing the elliptical shape of the basin was that after the time of <br />the impact, which must have been at least 3.9 billion years ago, giant volcanoes formed along <br />one part of the basin rim and created a huge region of high, rough terrain that obscures the <br />basin's outlines. It took a combination of gravity data, which tend to reveal underlying structure, <br />with data on current surface elevations to reconstruct a map of Mars elevations as they existed <br />before the volcanoes erupted. <br /><br />"In addition to the elliptical boundary of the basin, there are signs of a possible second, outer ring <br />-- a typical characteristic of large impact basins," Banerdt said.<br /><br />JPL manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, <br />Washington.&nbsp; For more information about the mission, visit: <font color="#000080">http://www.nasa.gov/mro </font>.<br /><br />- end -</font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Andrew Brown.&nbsp;</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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qso1

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Might even be a factor in why Mars did not develop or retain any potential life that we know of. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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Smersh

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<p>You beat me to it Andrew! I was just going to start a thread about this myself. This is quite an amazing discovery imo.</p><p>The diameter of the crater, at 5300 miles / 8500 kilometers, is more than the diameter of Mars itself [4200 miles / 6800 kilometers.]&nbsp; Is it possible, I wonder, if it could have been caused <span class="postbody">by an impact with another planet, early in the Solar System's history? Earth perhaps? Maybe even causing the Moon to be formed, after a large lump was ejected away from one of the planets? </span></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>
 
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Smersh

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Just thought of something else. A collision with another body, that caused the Asteroid Belt to be formed? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>
 
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derekmcd

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Just thought of something else. A collision with another body, that caused the Asteroid Belt to be formed? <br /> Posted by Smersh</DIV></p><p>Certainly lends credence to why we find Mars rocks here on Earth.&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div> </div><br /><div><span style="color:#0000ff" class="Apple-style-span">"If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing." - Homer Simpson</span></div> </div>
 
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DrRocket

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>You beat me to it Andrew! I was just going to start a thread about this myself. This is quite an amazing discovery imo.The diameter of the crater, at 5300 miles / 8500 kilometers, is more than the diameter of Mars itself [4200 miles / 6800 kilometers.]&nbsp; Is it possible, I wonder, if it could have been caused by an impact with another planet, early in the Solar System's history? Earth perhaps? Maybe even causing the Moon to be formed, after a large lump was ejected away from one of the planets? <br />Posted by Smersh</DIV></p><p>If this thing was 200 km in diameter and Mars is 6800 km in diameter, then assuming equal densities, the impacting body would be 8.65% of the mass of Mars.&nbsp; Shouldn't there be significant evidence of that body somewhere ?</p><p>A mission like Phoenis, to land at&nbsp; the impact point, might be interesting.&nbsp; <br /></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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DrRocket

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Certainly lends credence to why we find Mars rocks here on Earth.&nbsp; <br />Posted by derekmcd</DIV></p><p>I have heard&nbsp;such assertions before, but have not been able to confirm.&nbsp; Do you have evidence supporting the existence of rock on Earth with a Martian origin ?<br /></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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derekmcd

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I have heard&nbsp;such assertions before, but have not been able to confirm.&nbsp; Do you have evidence supporting the existence of rock on Earth with a Martian origin ? <br /> Posted by DrRocket</DIV></p><p>I'm not sure how you would go about showing 100% comfirmation... maybe MW would know.&nbsp; I would imagine how they go about the chemical analysis can tell a lot about a rock.&nbsp; It's one of those deals where I just take their word for it.&nbsp; </p><p>Here's a list of 'known' mars meteorites:</p><p>http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div> </div><br /><div><span style="color:#0000ff" class="Apple-style-span">"If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing." - Homer Simpson</span></div> </div>
 
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3488

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Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">If this thing was 200 km in diameter and Mars is 6800 km in diameter, then assuming equal densities, the impacting body would be 8.65% of the mass of Mars.&nbsp; Shouldn't there be significant evidence of that body somewhere ?A mission like Phoenis, to land at&nbsp; the impact point, might be interesting.&nbsp; <br /> Posted by DrRocket</font></DIV><p><font size="2"><strong><font color="#000000">Thank you DrRocket,</font></strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong><font color="#000000">That would be some impactor. I like the idea of the Phoenix type mission to the suspected ground zero. I hope that further observations will reveal where the centre is & yes I agree totally, send a Phoenix type lander there. Wonder if the Ground Zero is near the martian North Pole? I really need to take some time & study the MGS MOLA maps as well. They will show the shape quite well.</font></strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong><font color="#000000">The dichotomy is pretty well aligned with much of the equator & Phoenix has certainly landed within the 'impact basin', but another similar craft sent to the actual Ground Zero, would be an amazing mission. </font></strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong><font color="#000000">I will send your suggestion, credited to you (it's your idea not mine) to TPTB. Lets see what they say. IMO it's a must.&nbsp;</font></strong></font></p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">I'm not sure how you would go about showing 100% comfirmation... maybe MW would know.&nbsp; I would imagine how they go about the chemical analysis can tell a lot about a rock.&nbsp; It's one of those deals where I just take their word for it.&nbsp; Here's a list of 'known' mars meteorites:<font color="#000080">http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/ </font><br /> Posted by derekmcd</font></DIV></p><p><font size="2" color="#000000"><strong>Thank you Derek.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2" color="#000000"><strong>I think the initial 'clincher' were trapped gas bubbles, that matched precisely the martian atmosphere as measured by the Viking Landers & chemical composition of the actual meteorites themselves closely matching much of what was analysed by Mars Pathfinder & the MERs. </strong></font></p><p><font size="2" color="#000000"><strong>Of course, it is not 100% proof, but is certainly 99.9% with perhaps a 0.1 % uncertainty.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2" color="#000000"><strong> We will really only know with 100% certainty when we get samples back ourselves & then compare, with rocks we know for sure are from Mars. I think myself the SNC meteorites are of Martian origin, but we cannot say for 100%sure that they are, but they are an astonishingly close match to rocks studied in situ on Mars.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2" color="#000000"><strong>Andrew Brown.&nbsp;</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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Smersh

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Thank you DrRocket,That would be some impactor. I like the idea of the Phoenix type mission to the suspected ground zero. I hope that further observations will reveal where the centre is & yes I agree totally, send a Phoenix type lander there. Wonder if the Ground Zero is near the martian North Pole? I really need to take some time & study the MGS MOLA maps as well. They will show the shape quite well.The dichotomy is pretty well aligned with much of the equator & Phoenix has certainly landed within the 'impact basin', but another similar craft sent to the actual Ground Zero, would be an amazing mission. I will send your suggestion, credited to you (it's your idea not mine) to TPTB. Lets see what they say. IMO it's a must ...<br /> Posted by 3488</DIV></p><p>I think that's a good idea, but if nobody is certain exactly where the ground zero is, wouldn't such a potential mission, if carried out too soon, be quite possibly a waste of money? Surely further investigation / observation needs to be carried out first, to determine the exact impact point? </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>
 
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nimbus

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Would this impact have played any part in Mars' large inclination in the past? &nbsp;I can't find the estimated time of that past tilt, and only an estimate of 4.4BY ago for this impact. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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3488

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">I think that's a good idea, but if nobody is certain exactly where the ground zero is, wouldn't such a potential mission, if carried out too soon, be quite possibly a waste of money? Surely further investigation / observation needs to be carried out first, to determine the exact impact point?Posted by Smersh</font></DIV></p><p><strong><font size="2">Hi Smersh,</font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="2">Good point, I am sure that NASA, ESA, JAXA, etc are looking at all data now gathered to determine the Ground Zero. I see what you mean about the lander issue. </font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="2">IMO, no lander to Mars is a waste of&nbsp;money, no matter where the landing site is. Yes it would be daft, if a lander was sent to what was thought to be Ground Zero & it turned out that Ground Zero lets say was 500 KM to the south, but that lander would still carry out a very interesting & important scientific mission, furthering our knowledge of Mars from another site on the surface & to me, my opinion & I'm sure that I'm not alone on&nbsp;this,&nbsp;would not be a waste of money.</font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="2">But yes, lets find the Ground Zero, then put a proposal in for a lander / rover to that point. DrRocket certainly has a great idea there, one that is definately worth pursuing.</font></strong></p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">Would this impact have played any part in Mars' large inclination in the past? &nbsp;I can't find the estimated time of that past tilt, and only an estimate of 4.4BY ago for this impact. <br />Posted by nimbus</font></DIV></p><p><strong><font size="2">Cheers&nbsp;nimbus. I too cannot seem to find anything else. I think that this finding is so new, much background info has not yet been compiled.</font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="2">Andrew Brown.</font></strong></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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JonClarke

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<p>The Mars meteroites (the SNC family) wre launched from Mars much more recently than this giant event.&nbsp; They are also all made of much younger rocks.</p><p>Jon</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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bearack

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<p>Andrew, wouldn't that be hard to determine considering we are unable to understand impacts on the large gas giants?</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><br /><img id="06322a8d-f18d-4ab1-8ea7-150275a4cb53" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/6/14/06322a8d-f18d-4ab1-8ea7-150275a4cb53.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" /></p> </div>
 
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Smersh

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Hi Smersh,Good point, I am sure that NASA, ESA, JAXA, etc are looking at all data now gathered to determine the Ground Zero. I see what you mean about the lander issue. IMO, no lander to Mars is a waste of&nbsp;money, no matter where the landing site is. Yes it would be daft, if a lander was sent to what was thought to be Ground Zero & it turned out that Ground Zero lets say was 500 KM to the south, but that lander would still carry out a very interesting & important scientific mission, furthering our knowledge of Mars from another site on the surface & to me, my opinion & I'm sure that I'm not alone on&nbsp;this,&nbsp;would not be a waste of money.But yes, lets find the Ground Zero, then put a proposal in for a lander / rover to that point. DrRocket certainly has a great idea there, one that is definately worth pursuing ...<br /> Posted by 3488</DIV></p><p>Hi Andrew, yes I see your point. Of course, any lander that succesfully lands <em>anywhere</em> on Mars, would not be a "waste of money" as I described it, because of the huge scientific benefits that would follow. Maybe I should have said "comparative waste of money." </p><p>What I'm trying to say is that NASA has a budget to keep to, because if funds were unlimited, we'd have landers all over the Martian surface by now. I'm just making the point that a mission that's specifically designed to find out the cause of this crater should have accurate information about where to land first, otherwise the budget may not be sufficient to send another mission afterwards, to the correct location, if the wrong place is chosen.&nbsp; </p><p>But yes, I'm sure the various space agencies will&nbsp; now be working hard to determine where that location is.&nbsp; </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>
 
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3488

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">Andrew, wouldn't that be hard to determine considering we are unable to understand impacts on the large gas giants? <br /> Posted by bearack</font></DIV></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Hi Tim,</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>It will be difficult, but Mars is as you know not a gas giant. When Comet Shoemaker Levy 9's 21 fragments slammed into Jupiter's atmosphere in July 1994,&nbsp; the resulting scars, though persisted for an unexpectedly long time, where still erased by Jupiter's winds. The same will be true for comet impacts into the atmospheres of Saturn, Uranus & Neptune.<br /></strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>With Mars, as DrRocket correctly surmised, that such an impactor is likely to leave a remnant of itself, possibly as a mascon (mass concentration). We already have a high resolution altitude global map of Mars, courtesy of the MOLA on board the now inactive MGS orbiter, MRO, Odyssey & Mars Express, between them have other instruments that can remote sense the surface or even ping raday to subsurface levels, not to mention, all three have very effective imaging devices as well as all three can be tracked, thus revealing a possible 'hard spot' or even a 'soft spot' in the martian crust where the impactor slammed into Mars.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>IMO, its difficult, but not impossible.&nbsp;</strong></font></p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">Hi Andrew, yes I see your point. Of course, any lander that succesfully lands anywhere on Mars, would not be a "waste of money" as I described it, because of the huge scientific benefits that would follow. Maybe I should have said "comparative waste of money." What I'm trying to say is that NASA has a budget to keep to, because if funds were unlimited, we'd have landers all over the Martian surface by now. I'm just making the point that a mission that's specifically designed to find out the cause of this crater should have accurate information about where to land first, otherwise the budget may not be sufficient to send another mission afterwards, to the correct location, if the wrong place is chosen.&nbsp; But yes, I'm sure the various space agencies will&nbsp; now be working hard to determine where that location is.&nbsp; <br /> Posted by Smersh</font></DIV></p><p><font size="2"><strong>That's very true Smersh. </strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Sorry I may have misunderstood.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Andrew Brown.&nbsp;</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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neuvik

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<p>&nbsp;Would a core sample of the martian terrain be able to find evidence or do we actually need rovers for it?</p><p>The Discovery Channel often shows programs featuring the impact that killed off the dinosaurs, and in it they usualy have a geologist point out the layer of dust it spread around the globe. &nbsp;&nbsp; So would a drilling lander be able to prove without a doubt the reality of this massive impact or are there too many impacts that may distrupt the readings? &nbsp; I'd think something that big would leave a very large deposit of vaporized rock.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Edit:&nbsp; I forgot they found that impact site in the Yucatan was found with gravametric scanning. &nbsp; So maybe a rover is needed. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">I don't think I'm alone when I say, "I hope more planets fall under the ruthless domination of Earth!"</font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff">SDC Boards: Power by PLuck - Ph**king Luck</font></p> </div>
 
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