NASA Mars lander captures strikes by 4 incoming space rocks

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA lander on Mars has captured the vibrations and sounds of four meteoroids striking the planet’s surface. Scientists reported Monday that Mars InSight has detected seismic and acoustic waves from a series of impacts in 2020 and 2021. A satellite orbiting the red planet confirmed the impact locations, as far as 180 miles from the lander. Scientists are delighted by the detections _ a first for Mars _ and the resulting craters. They’ve been waiting more than three years for InSight’s seismometer to sense impacts from incoming space rocks. InSight has already detected more than 1,300 marsquakes.