The meteorite, officially designated as NWA 7034, was discovered in 2011 by nomads in the Moroccan part of the Sahara. It’s unclear exactly when it hit Earth, but the rock itself is extraordinarily old: at least 4.4 to 4.5 billion years old, according to scientists, making it the oldest known Martian meteorite. The Black Beauty got its name from its dark, almost coal-like appearance. According to scientists, the rock was ejected from the Martian surface after a massive impact by another body, probably in the Karratha crater region near the Martian equator.
Earlier research had already revealed traces of water in the meteorite. However, the methods at the time required breaking off and destroying small samples, which significantly limited the scope of analyses. A new preliminary scientific study however, it brought about a fundamental shift.
The researchers used neutron scanning, a technology similar to a CT scan that uses neutrons instead of X-rays. These are extremely sensitive to the presence of hydrogen, and thus can detect water even in extremely dense material. Thanks to this, for the first time, scientists were able to map the distribution of water in the entire meteorite sample without damaging it.
“The distribution and character of hydrated minerals are crucial to understanding the habitability of Mars, its climatic and geological evolution, and possible traces of ancient life. This is why the identification of hydrogen-containing phases in the Martian crust is extremely important,” the researchers said.
Favorable conditions for microbial life?
The result surprised the scientist: according to the analysis, water makes up approximately 0.6 percent of the meteorite’s mass. In absolute terms, the approximately 300-gram meteorite is about the same amount of rock as the size of a human fingernail – which is, however, significantly more than earlier estimates indicated. Most of the water is locked up in tiny fragments of iron oxyhydroxides, which are formed by the reaction of iron with water under high pressure, such as in a meteorite impact.
“These minerals closely resemble those found by the Perseverance rover in Jezero Crater, suggesting that similar water reservoirs may have been common near the surface on early Mars,” the researchers added.
Related
The presence of water raises hopes that conditions favorable to microbial life may have existed on Mars in the distant past. Water is a key ingredient of life as we know it.
The only way to examine the water
The discovery fits into a growing picture of Mars as a planet that billions of years ago was rich in oceans and flowing water, much like Earth. Most of this water has disappeared today, but some remains in the form of ice below the surface, in mountainous regions or in vast subsurface reservoirs, the existence of which has been confirmed by recent research.
The importance of the Black Beauty meteorite is also growing from a practical point of view. Because of the enormous costs, NASA recently canceled the planned mission to transport samples from Mars to Earth. Martian meteorites, which fell on our planet naturally, remain the only possibility today to directly study rocks and water from the Red Planet. According to scientists, Black Beauty may play a key role in trying to understand when and how Mars lost its water – and whether life could have ever formed on it.
Resources: Cornell University, Phys.org, LiveScience, Universe Today
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date:2026-02-10 11:00:00