. Medical and Hospital News .




MARSDAILY
Mars meteorite has significant water
by Staff Writers
Washington (UPI) Jan 3, 2013


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

NASA says a small meteorite, possibly the first discovered from the martian surface, contains 10 times more water than meteorites that later originated on Mars.

Scientists have spent a year studying the meteorite dubbed Northwest Africa 7034 found in 2011 in the Sahara Desert and have determined it formed 2.1 billion years ago during the beginning of the most recent geologic period on Mars, known as the Amazonian, the space agency reported Thursday.

"The age of NWA 7034 is important because it is significantly older than most other martian meteorites," Mitch Schulte of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington said. "We now have insight into a piece of Mars' history at a critical time in its evolution."

Although similar to surface rocks and outcrops NASA has studied remotely via Mars rovers and Mars-orbiting satellites, NWA 7034's composition is different from any previously studied Martian meteorite, researchers said.

"The contents of this meteorite may challenge many long held notions about martian geology," John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said.

NWA 7034 is made of basalt, rock that forms when lava quickly cools, and researchers theorize the large amount of water may have originated from interaction of the cooling lava with water present in Mars' crust.

"This unique meteorite tells us what volcanism was like on Mars 2 billion years ago," said Carl Agee, leader of the analysis team and director of the University of New Mexico's Institute of Meteoritics in Albuquerque. "It also gives us a glimpse of ancient surface and environmental conditions on Mars that no other meteorite has ever offered."

.


Related Links
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Get Our Free Newsletters
Space - Defense - Environment - Energy - Solar - Nuclear

...





MARSDAILY
Clays on Mars: More Plentiful Than Expected
Atlanta, GA (SPX) Dec 21, 2012
A new study co-authored by the Georgia Institute of Technology indicates that clay minerals, rocks that usually form when water is present for long periods of time, cover a larger portion of Mars than previously thought. In fact, Assistant Professor James Wray and the research team say clays were in some of the rocks studied by Opportunity when it landed at Eagle crater in 2004. The rover ... read more


MARSDAILY
Haitian leader urges unity to help rebuild nation

Natural catastrophes caused $160 bn in damage: Munich Re

Republican leader vows to hold vote on stalled storm aid

Congress approves $9.7 bn aid for storm Sandy victims

MARSDAILY
New location system could compete with GPS

Beidou's unique services attractive to Chinese companies

China eyes greater market share for its GPS rival

Researchers told to ward off navigation system interference

MARSDAILY
Study refutes accepted model of memory formation

Japan's population logs record drop

Fluctuating environment may have driven human evolution

Decision to give a group effort in the brain

MARSDAILY
Galapagos pink iguana captured on film

Speeding train kills five elephants in eastern India

Long-beaked echidna may not be a thing of the past

Bird watching brings new discoveries

MARSDAILY
Scientists say vaccine temporarily brakes HIV

Penn Team Mimicking a Natural Defense Against Malaria to Develop New Treatments

Swine flu kills nine Palestinians

Bangladesh slaughters 150,000 birds over avian flu

MARSDAILY
China activists break security cordon around Liu Xia

China arrests 'seriously wanted' criminal

China closes liberal website after reform call

China closes liberal website after reform call

MARSDAILY
Mexican troops kill 12 suspects in gun battle

Pirates attack ship off Nigeria, kidnap Italian sailors

Four Chinese hostages freed in Colombia

Piracy will swell again if seas not policed: S.African Navy

MARSDAILY
China official manufacturing index expands in December

China house prices rise in December

Positive China signal as official PMI shows growth

China manufacturing activity hits 19-month high




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement