Scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad, a facility associated with ISRO, have named three craters on Mars after places in India. The craters were discovered by PRL scientists and have been named after the former director of PRL, Devendra Lal, and two Indian small towns, Mursan (Hathras district) in Uttar Pradesh and Hilsa (Nalanda district) in Bihar. The naming was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) earlier this month.
The largest crater, named Lal, spans 65 km and is located in the Tharsis volcanic region of Mars. The other two craters, Mursan and Hilsa, are each about 10 km wide and are situated on the eastern and western sides of the rim of the Lal Crater. This discovery not only honors the contributions of Indian scientists but also provides compelling evidence that Mars once had water, which flowed on its surface.
The entire area of the Lal crater is within the Tharsis volcanic region on Mars, which is a geologically young surface as it is covered with lava flows. There is geophysical evidence of material other than the lava flows in this crater, with a 45 metre thick sedimentary deposit beneath the crater. The evidence of this material was obtained by the subsurface radar, Mars SHAllow RADar sounder (SHARAD) on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA's eyes in the skies of Mars.
Craters are bowl-shaped depressions found on the surface of planets, moons, and other celestial bodies. They can be formed by several processes which include meteorite, asteroid, comet collides, or as a result of volcanic activity and are typically found at the summit of volcanoes.
Mars, the Red Planet, is home to a fascinating variety of craters, many of which are named after notable scientists and science fiction authors. The red planet has hundreds of thousands of impact craters. These are formed by collisions with meteoroids, asteroids, or comets. Only about one thousand of these craters have names, and they are usually named after famous scientists and authors.
Huygens is the largest named crater with a diameter of 467.25 km. Schiaparelli is the second largest, measuring 458.52 km in diameter.
The study of Martian craters provides valuable insights into the planet's geology and history, including the frequency of impacts and volcanic activity over time. For more detailed information, you can explore the [List of craters on Mars] on Wikipedia, which includes coordinates, diameters, and the year of official name adoption for each crater.
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