Mars may have been losing its water more than 4 billion years ago, oldest-known Martian meteorite suggests

An unassuming, brownish stone may be one of the most precious objects on Earth. The rare rock, called Teghaza 001, is a piece of ancient Mars and gives geoscientists an invaluable opportunity to study the planet's oldest material.

Now, a slew of recent studies based on evidence from the space rock are helping scientists understand more about the Red Planet's history of habitability.

Scientists believe that Earth and Mars coalesced around 4.5 billion years ago from the protoplanetary disk of gas and dust that surrounded our young sun. These two celestial siblings have since shared more than a few rocks in the intervening millions of millennia. Meteoroid impacts frequently gouge the Martian crust and have sent several hundred pieces of Mars hurtling to Earth — a free Mars return mission, paid for by the universe.

Two especially famous specimens include the Read Entire Article