A 700,000-Year Trip From Mars to Morocco

A 700,000-Year Trip From Mars to Morocco
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
Published: October 15, 2012

A meteorite that landed in the Moroccan desert last summer was ejected from the surface of Mars 700,000 years ago, a new study reports. The meteorite is composed of an abundance of black glass, with noble gases trapped inside.

“Based on the noble gas measurements, we could calculate the ejection age of the meteorite,” said Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane, an astronomer at the Hassan II University in Casablanca, Morocco, and the study’s first author.

The study appears in the current issue of the journal Science.

The meteorite, called Tissint after a nearby village, is only the fifth Martian meteorite that people have witnessed falling to Earth. There are about 60 known meteorites thought to be from Mars.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/science/tissint-meteorite-from-mars-is-700000-years-old.html?_r=0