News Planetary Science

Scientists probe fresh Martian meteorite 

Rock holds clues to Red Planet’s atmosphere and surface conditions

By Tanya Lewis

- More than 2 years ago

A meteorite that streaked to Earth in a blazing fireball over the Moroccan desert is one of the freshest samples of the Red Planet’s surface and atmosphere that scientists have ever seen.

MARTIAN METEORITE This 1.1-kilogram chunk of the Tissint Martian meteorite shows distinct charring from Earth’s atmosphere and pockets of black glass that contain trapped gas from Mars.