A rock that spent more than four billion years preserving clues about Mars' early history was found lying in the Sahara Desert, looking like an ordinary pink stone.
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that → spend → stone
Discovered in 2022, the 800-gram rock has since turned out to be one of the oldest Martian meteorites ever identified on Earth.
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rock → discover → Earth
Its mineral composition contains evidence of ancient volcanic activity and interactions between water and rock, offering scientists a rare opportunity to study what Mars was like billions of years before it became the cold, dry planet we know today.
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we → contain → years
In a
NASA report published on October 29, 2026, the agency detailed findings from a NASA-funded study of the meteorite, named Teghaza 001 after the salt plain in Mali where it was discovered.
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it → publish → Mali
According to the primary source, NASA-funded researchers, including scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, determined that the rock formed more than 4.1 billion years ago.
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rock → accord → Laboratory
The
findings, published in the journal Science, provide a new look at the formation of the Martian crust and the role water played in shaping the planet's early surface.
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water → publish → surface
How a pink rock from the Sahara turned out to be Martian
When Teghaza 001 was discovered, researchers did not immediately know its age or exact origin.
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researchers → turn → age
Scientists at the University of New Mexico had already identified it as a Martian meteorite by examining its oxygen isotopes.
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Scientists → identify → isotopes
These isotopes act like geochemical fingerprints, helping researchers distinguish rocks from different planetary bodies.
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researchers → act → bodies
However, the meteorite's unusual texture and mineral composition caught the attention of Yang Liu, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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texture → catch → California
Although Martian meteorites had been studied before, this specimen contained minerals and structures that made it particularly interesting.
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it → study → minerals
The rock is now considered one of roughly 435 Martian meteorites identified on Earth and among the three oldest known examples.
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rock → consider → examples
Its importance lies in the variety of minerals it contains, which provide a more complete record of the planet's early geological history.
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which → lie → history
What its minerals reveal about ancient Mars
Researchers found that Teghaza 001 contains a mixture of igneous minerals, which form when molten rock cools and solidifies.
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rock → reveal → minerals
These minerals offer clues about how the Martian crust developed from magma.
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crust → offer → magma
The rock also contains zircon crystals, which are particularly valuable to geologists because they preserve information about the conditions and timing of a rock's formation.
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they → contain → formation
By studying these crystals and other mineral grains, scientists could establish the meteorite's age and identify later changes caused by water.
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scientists → study → water
The team used an in-situ rubidium-strontium dating technique developed with contributions from researchers at the California Institute of Technology.
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team → use → Technology
Unlike traditional methods that require dissolving an entire sample, this technique examines individual mineral grains.
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technique → require → grains
The researchers needed only a piece smaller than a fingernail, allowing them to preserve most of the rare meteorite for future investigations.
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them → need → investigations
The analysis revealed that the rock had been altered by water around 4.1 billion years ago, suggesting that its original formation occurred even earlier.
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formation → reveal → water
Evidence of water on the Red Planet
One of the most significant aspects of the discovery is what it reveals about water on early Mars.
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it → reveal → Mars
The mineral chemistry, oxygen isotopes and textures suggest that water interacted with the planet's crust during its early geological history.
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water → suggest → history
A separate
study published in Science Advances in June 2026 examined the meteorite's water content, providing further information about how water influenced the Martian surface.
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water → publish → surface
Lee Saper, a co-author of the research who conducted the work as a postdoctoral scholar at JPL, said the meteorite offered a rare sample of Martian crust from a region not previously represented in the collection of meteorites studied on Earth.
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meteorite → conduct → Earth
He explained that it records interactions between water and rock and may even preserve traces of the Martian atmosphere from a period when the planet was losing water.
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planet → explain → water
These findings point towards a more dynamic water cycle on early Mars than scientists could previously reconstruct from many available meteorite samples.
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scientists → point → samples
Scientists still do not know its exact birthplace
Although researchers have confirmed that Teghaza 001 came from Mars, identifying its precise birthplace remains difficult.
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identifying → know → birthplace
The team compared its mineral composition and chemistry with observations made by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and identified 13 possible locations on the planet that could match the meteorite.
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that → compare → meteorite
The rock's characteristics are particularly similar to materials observed in Mars' cratered southern highlands.
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characteristics → observe → highlands
However, scientists cannot yet establish which specific location produced it.
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location → establish → it
Like other Martian meteorites, Teghaza 001 was thrown into space by a powerful impact on the planet's surface before eventually travelling through space and reaching Earth.
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Teghaza → throw → Earth
Researchers believe the meteorite could help answer questions about how the Martian crust formed, how water interacted with rocks and how the planet's environment changed over billions of years.
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environment → believe → years
With further studies planned, scientists hope the unusual pink rock will provide more clues about Mars' ancient past.
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rock → plan → past
The Aporia
