Baseball-size Martian rock recovered in the Sahara

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http://www.centurylink.net/news/rea...ass&action=1&lang=en&_LT=UNLC_USNWU00L1_UNEWS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scientists are abuzz about a rock from Mars that landed in the Sahara desert: A yearlong analysis revealed it's quite different from other Martian meteorites.

Not only is it older than most, it also contains more water. The baseball-size meteorite, estimated to be 2 billion years old, is strikingly similar to the volcanic rocks examined by the NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity on the Martian surface.

"Here we have a piece of Mars that I can hold in my hands. That's really exciting," said Carl Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics and curator at the University of New Mexico who led the study published online Thursday in the journal Science.

Scientists believe an asteroid or some other large object struck Mars, dislodging rocks and sending them into space. Occasionally, some plummet through Earth's atmosphere................more at link....
 
:what:

Short of sending a spacecraft or astronaut to the red planet to haul back rocks, Martian meteorites are the next best thing for scientists seeking to better understand how Earth's neighbor transformed from a tropical environment to a frigid desert.

Mars caused the Ice Age???!!!

ETA: Oh wait, I read that wrong. Mars became the frigid desert. Oops! Still, gotta' wonder...
 
:what:



Mars caused the Ice Age???!!!

ETA: Oh wait, I read that wrong. Mars became the frigid desert. Oops! Still, gotta' wonder...

I never knew that Mars had been a 'tropical environment' before either...hard to imagine that with the views from the rovers...
 
Martians (rocks) have landed. Where's the Men in Black?

If I was a Martian rock landing on earth I'd pick me a nice warm beach to land on. Not the Sahara with miles of sand and no beach.

I guess we are lucky it didn't pick the middle of the ocean to land in.
 
Maybe the Martians are challenging us to a series?

One would think they'd be more concerned about that whole "Miss Universe" claim.
 

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