Mars has ancient impact debris from planet-forming collisions: Study
NASA's InSight mission uncovered giant rocky fragments hidden deep in Mars's mantle—actual leftovers from epic collisions that happened about 4.5 billion years ago, when the planet was just forming.
Scientists figured this out by studying marsquakes and meteorite impacts recorded by InSight's seismometer.
Chunks are as wide as 4 kilometers
These chunks—some as wide as four kilometers—are buried in the mantle because Mars's crust doesn't move around like Earth's.
That means ancient impact debris is still preserved beneath the surface, giving us a rare peek at how Mars (and other "stagnant-lid" planets like Venus and Mercury) evolved.
InSight's legacy lives on in the data it sent back
Even though InSight stopped working back in 2022, its data is still helping scientists piece together how rocky planets form and change over time.
It's a reminder that even worlds millions of kilometers away have stories to tell—and we're just starting to listen.