Meteorite from Mars is at least 4 billion years old
Scientists have identified a Martian meteorite, Teghaza 001, as being at least 4 billion years old, making it one of the oldest samples from Mars ever found. The rock's composition suggests it interacted with liquid water, providing further evidence that early Mars may have been habitable.
Why it matters
This discovery offers critical insights into the geological history of Mars and strengthens the scientific case for the planet's past potential to support microbial life.
This makes reddish igneous rock perhaps the oldest of the 435 meteorites from Mars known on Earth.
The researchers said the composition of the meteorite, called Teghaza 001, is providing insight into the environment early in the history of Earth’s planetary neighbor, with fresh evidence of liquid water on the surface that bolsters the notion that primordial Mars may have been conducive to microbial life.
Planetary scientist Yang Liu of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, which is managed by Caltech, called the meteorite “a witness to a time when Mars was likely warmer and wetter than it has been for most of its history.”
The chemistry of the meteorite, a type of coarse-grained rock called gabbro, shows that it experienced interactions with water when it was slowly cooling and crystallizing in the Martian subsurface.
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