Publication Date:
2018-06-11
Description:
High-resolution images from the Mars Orbiter Camera reveal impact craters as small as 10 m [1], and still smaller craters (〈 0.5 m) have been inferred from surface boulders at the Pathfinder landing site [2]. Any small-scale impact environment at scales of meters or smaller would obviously be a potent contributor to erosive processes on Mars, to the small-scale evolution of its surface, and to mineralogic/ compositional alterations of its surface materials. It is not very clear from the analysis of Viking and Pathfinder images, however, what the smallest craters are on Mars. As a consequence, it might be informative to consult atmospheric-entry calculations that specify the smallest meteoroid able to survive passage through the present martian atmosphere. We conducted such calculations and perceive them as providing useful constraints for understanding small-scale surface processes on Mars and as possible guides for the interpretation of surface images from past and future lander missions.
Keywords:
Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
Type:
Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV: Mars Impact Cratering; LPI-Contrib-1197
Format:
text
