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Mars meteorite Teghaza 001 is more than 4.1 billion years old, NASA-funded study finds

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A rose-coloured Mars meteorite found in the Sahara Desert in 2022 formed more than 4.1 billion years ago, making it one of the oldest Martian meteorites ever found, NASA said on Thursday, 29 October 2026, announcing a study published in the journal Science.

Mars meteorite: A slice of Teghaza 001 used to study its mineralogy and chemistry
A slice of Teghaza 001 used to study its mineralogy and chemistry Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech (public domain).

What makes Mars meteorite Teghaza 001 special

The nearly 800-gram rock is named Teghaza 001 after the salt plain in Mali where it was discovered, and it is one of roughly 435 meteorites known to come from the Red Planet, NASA said. It is one of the three most ancient Martian meteorites found on Earth. The others are ALH84001, which is made almost entirely of one mineral, and the meteorite nicknamed “Black Beauty”, which formed about 2.1 billion years ago. Unlike them, Teghaza 001 has a mix of igneous minerals that records how the planet’s crust formed from cooling magma before it was altered by water underground. “One of the paper’s reviewers called it a Rosetta Stone for Mars,” said lead author Yang Liu of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Key Facts

  • Name: Teghaza 001, found in the Sahara in 2022
  • Age: formed more than 4.1 billion years ago
  • Weight: nearly 800 grams
  • Known Martian meteorites: about 435
  • Study: Science, published 29 October 2026

“This is really our first piece of Martian crust from a part of Mars we have never had a sample of before.”

— Lee Saper, NASA Ames Research Center

How NASA JPL scientists dated the Martian crust sample

Researchers at the University of New Mexico first identified the rock as Martian from its oxygen isotopes. Liu and her colleagues then found zircon crystals, which can be used to date a rock precisely. Caltech co-author Francois Tissot used a new in-situ rubidium-strontium age-dating method on a piece smaller than a fingernail, analysing single mineral grains on its surface, which preserves rare samples for future study. “Right now, we are one of very few labs in the world able to perform this kind of age-dating, and the first to date such an ancient Martian meteorite,” Tissot said. The results showed the rock had been altered by Martian water around 4.1 billion years ago, suggesting it formed even earlier.

Map of 13 locations on Mars that match the mineralogy and chemistry of Teghaza 001
Map of 13 locations on Mars that match the mineralogy and chemistry of Teghaza 001 Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS (public domain).

Clues to water on early Mars

Clues in the oxygen isotopes, texture and chemistry of the minerals point to a much more dynamic water cycle on early Mars, NASA said. The meteorite’s mineralogy matches what NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has seen in the planet’s cratered southern highlands, and scientists identified 13 locations on Mars that match it, though its exact origin can never be known. “This is really our first piece of Martian crust from a part of Mars we’ve never had a sample of before,” said second author Lee Saper, now a scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center. A separate paper in Science Advances in June described the meteorite’s water content. Martian meteorites were blasted off the planet by impacts before reaching Earth, and scientists confirm their origin by matching them with data from missions such as the Viking landers and the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. “We’ve only scratched the surface,” Liu said.

Why It Matters: Rocks this old are rare snapshots of early Mars and help scientists understand how water shaped a planet that may once have been habitable.

Also on TrendDesh: Mars dust: NASA Perseverance finds ultrafine particles that could reach astronauts' lungs · Perseverance rover sets record for the longest drive on another world at 45.22 km

Source: NASA: Study details one of oldest Mars meteorites · NASA Photojournal: Slice of Teghaza 001 · NASA JPL

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