4-billion-year-old 'Rosetta Stone' found in Sahara Desert could unlock the secret history of water on Mars

A rose-colored rock discovered in the Sahara Desert may hold some clues to Mars' ancient geological history.

The meteorite, named Teghaza 001 after the salt plain in Mali where it was discovered in 2022, weighs roughly 1.8 pounds (800 grams) and formed more than 4.1 billion years ago. Blasted off Mars by an impact before eventually landing on Earth, it is one of the three oldest Martian meteorites ever found.

The extraordinary age and unusual mineral composition of Teghaza 001 offer a rare glimpse into the formation of Mars' early crust and how volcanic materials may have been altered by water, according to a statement from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

"It was only after we started looking closely that we realized this meteorite is really unique,” research leader Yang Liu of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said in the statement. "One of the paper’s reviewers called it a Rosetta ...