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Mars and the Earth run into debris in space regularly, and on our planet, meteors usually vaporize in the atmosphere.
On Mars however, with a surface pressure 1/100th that of the Earth, the impactors generally make it to the surface. This particular impact took place on Mars sometime in the last 5 years. Although the crater is small, the rays of ejecta thrown out by the impact are easy to spot , stretching out almost a kilometer.
The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 25.6 centimeters [10.1 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 77 centimeters [30.3 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.
The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
| Name | Value | Additional Values |
|---|---|---|
| Target | Mars | |
| System | ||
| Target Type | Planet | |
| Mission | Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) | |
| Instrument Host | Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | |
| Host Type | Orbiter | |
| Instrument | High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) | |
| Detector | ||
| Extra Keywords | Atmosphere, Color, Crater, Impact, Map | |
| Acquisition Date | ||
| Release Date | 2021-06-25 | |
| Date in Caption | ||
| Image Credit | NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona | |
| Source | photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24694 | |
| Identifier | PIA24694 | |