Meteorite Found On Mars
Meteorite Found On Mars
An iron meteorite has been found on Mars by Curiosity, the NASA rover. This is the first large meteorite found by the rover on Mars. Scientists have named it Lebanon. Meteorite are lumps made of rock and metal which have reached from space onto the earth where they impact it. These are time capsules which represent the shattered fragments of planets that have met their end in the solar system.
Around 4.6 billion years ago, the sun and planets in the solar system formed, according to the scientists. This resulted from the collision of many rocks and asteroids melted together to form the Earth, Mars and several other planets. Astronomers have called this process as “hot accretion”. With molten planets, heavy metals such as iron can sink into the central portion of the planet. Lighter rocks float to the surface. Landforms result when these become cool.
As the planets expand in size, the collisions between them would become more violent. This can cause a lot of destruction in the world. Iron meteorites emerge from the deep, core regions of doomed planets.
As per the NASA statement, the cavities visible on this meteorite have been composed by olivine minerals. This suggests the meteorite could have emerged from a place near the core-mantle boundary in the parent world. The iron core gave way to rocks and minerals of the mantle region.
This meteorite found by Curiosity is the first large one of its kind. Smaller ones have been found by Spirit and Opportunity. The first meteorite to be discovered in Mars is Opportunity which was found in 2005. It was found by Opportunity close to the landing site at Meridiani Planum. This was also an iron meteorite.
Meteorites are common in Mars as there is less atmosphere to weather them away. Meteorites on earth survive for some million years prior to erosion. On Mars, the weathering rate is thought by scientists to be around 1000 times slower so meteorites could exist for billions of years. They would then accumulate on the surface of the planet.
Curiosity is almost 2 years into its mission but progress has been slower than anticipated. Researchers have estimated that there could be 500 to 500,000 meteorites with mass greater than 10 grams per square kilometre of Mars.
A meteorite geologist on Mars could heck to see if meteorites blasted from earth could land on this planet. What is so exciting about the meteorite found on Mars by this rover is that this is mostly made from iron and it is from outer space. This 2 meter meteorite is the biggest one discovered in Mars.
A small fragment lying across this meteorite has been named Lebanon B. While iron meteorites are common on earth, they are most common in Mars because of high resistance to erosion on this planet. With new avenues for testing and evaluating the potential of nearby planets, discoveries such as these have a lot of value for finding out more about our solar system.
