A piece of Mars that fell to Earth gives clues about the planet ... - The País.com (Spain)

Pending

the desired mission to bring Martian samples for analysis in terrestrial laboratories, good luck sometimes accompanies scientists as neighboring planet chunks served at home, but taken out of context. The meteorite NWA 7533, 84 grams, acquired in Agadir (Morocco) in 2012, is a fragment of the early crust of Mars, say scientists who have analyzed thoroughly. It may be the first recognized sign of early crust of Mars, says Nature in which Munir Humayun (Florida State University) and his colleagues present their study of NWA 7533.

reaching Mars rocks to Earth would have broken away from their planet by the impact of a body powerful enough to fly off and overcome the gravitational field there. Wander through space and can end up falling in the Earth. For scientists, these meteorites are actively seeking treasures, for example in Antarctica, where the icy surfaces not only facilitate its location, but the preserved in almost pristine condition, according to the specialists Harry Y. McSween Nature . Also the desert sands of North Africa are favorable terrain to find meteorites, but scientists there rather than find them, have to buy.

is the case of NWA 7533, acquired in 2012, which must have formed part of a larger rock that fragmented when passing through the Earth’s atmosphere. They have recovered at least five pieces, McSween said.

analysis now by Humayun and his team located the origin of the meteorite on the high ground of the Martian southern hemisphere. The rock is made of fragments containing zircons probably formed by the consolidation of the primary crust of Mars. Moreover, according to the dating, are older (4.428 million years) similar to terrestrial and lunar zircons, implying a parallel timeline in primary crust formation on Mars, Earth and the Moon, says Nature .

McSween

dating indicates that another meteorite related to this, the NWA7034, is 2,100 million years, which may indicate that the original rock was fragmented when passing through the Earth’s atmosphere was a mixture of different components.

NWA 7533 contains fragments whose chemical composition is almost identical to that of basaltic rocks analyzed by the Spirit robot, of NASA, during his exploration of Gusev crater on Mars.