A new study suggests evidence that life may have existed on Mars billions of years ago.

Researchers at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, examined a meteorite known as Northwest Africa 7034—nicknamed “Black Beauty”—found in the Sahara Desert in Morocco in 2011. They discovered that a fragment of the meteorite included a tiny zircon crystal. That crystal had thin layers of aluminum and iron neatly arranged “like that of an onion,” NewScientist reported.

“These kinds of zircons are only known to form where hydrothermal processes, hot water systems, are active during magmatism,” Aaron Cavosie, co-author of the paper, explained. “The hot water facilitates transportation of the iron, aluminium and sodium into the crystal as it grows, layer by layer.” He added of the meteorite, “It’s a wonderful buffet of Martian history, a mixture of very old and very young rocks. But many of the fragments in it are among the oldest pieces of rock from Mars.”

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“What we found is by analyzing some of the minerals in this meteorite is evidence for hydrothermal activity in the crust of Mars about 4.45 billion years ago. This is only one hundred billion years after the planet first formed. And so this is a meteorite that’s from an area in the southern highlands of Mars, which is known to be very ancient,” Dr. Jack Gillespie, the lead author of the paper, stated.

“Micro- to nanoscale microscopy of a unique impact-shocked zircon from the regolith breccia meteorite NWA7034 reveals textural and chemical indicators of hydrothermal conditions on Mars during crystallization 4.45 billion years ago,” the abstract for the study states. “Element distribution maps show sharp alternating zoning defined by marked enrichments of non-formula elements, such as Fe, Al, and Na, and ubiquitous nanoscale magnetite inclusions. The zoning and inclusions are similar to those reported in terrestrial zircon crystallizing in the presence of aqueous fluid and are here interpreted as primary features recording zircon growth from exsolved hydrous fluids at ~4.45 billion years.”

“At such an ancient age of 4.5 billion years, we are placed at the timing of when Mars formed,” Eva Scheller of Stanford University said. “So this would mark evidence of some of the earliest behaviour of water on Mars.”

SpaceX owner Elon Musk has said he envisions a time when humankind will colonize Mars and create a self-sustaining community there. “Musk envisions a Martian metropolis housing up to one million residents by 2054, relying on advanced technologies and innovative solutions to overcome the Red Planet’s harsh environment,” MountBonnell stated. 

Musk has also stated that attempting to colonize Mars would enable humans to develop advanced technology.

“Even if we fail at creating a Mars colony that can grow without continuous support from Earth, the absurdly ambitious nature of the goal nonetheless results in the creation of alien-level technology that is crushingly better than competitors who merely aim for Earth orbit,” Musk recently posted on X.

 

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A new study suggests evidence that life may have existed on Mars billions of years ago.

Researchers at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, examined a meteorite known as Northwest Africa 7034—nicknamed “Black Beauty”—found in the Sahara Desert in Morocco in 2011. They discovered that a fragment of the meteorite included a tiny zircon crystal. That crystal had thin layers of aluminum and iron neatly arranged “like that of an onion,” NewScientist reported.

“These kinds of zircons are only known to form where hydrothermal processes, hot water systems, are active during magmatism,” Aaron Cavosie, co-author of the paper, explained. “The hot water facilitates transportation of the iron, aluminium and sodium into the crystal as it grows, layer by layer.” He added of the meteorite, “It’s a wonderful buffet of Martian history, a mixture of very old and very young rocks. But many of the fragments in it are among the oldest pieces of rock from Mars.”

CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

“What we found is by analyzing some of the minerals in this meteorite is evidence for hydrothermal activity in the crust of Mars about 4.45 billion years ago. This is only one hundred billion years after the planet first formed. And so this is a meteorite that’s from an area in the southern highlands of Mars, which is known to be very ancient,” Dr. Jack Gillespie, the lead author of the paper, stated.

“Micro- to nanoscale microscopy of a unique impact-shocked zircon from the regolith breccia meteorite NWA7034 reveals textural and chemical indicators of hydrothermal conditions on Mars during crystallization 4.45 billion years ago,” the abstract for the study states. “Element distribution maps show sharp alternating zoning defined by marked enrichments of non-formula elements, such as Fe, Al, and Na, and ubiquitous nanoscale magnetite inclusions. The zoning and inclusions are similar to those reported in terrestrial zircon crystallizing in the presence of aqueous fluid and are here interpreted as primary features recording zircon growth from exsolved hydrous fluids at ~4.45 billion years.”

“At such an ancient age of 4.5 billion years, we are placed at the timing of when Mars formed,” Eva Scheller of Stanford University said. “So this would mark evidence of some of the earliest behaviour of water on Mars.”

SpaceX owner Elon Musk has said he envisions a time when humankind will colonize Mars and create a self-sustaining community there. “Musk envisions a Martian metropolis housing up to one million residents by 2054, relying on advanced technologies and innovative solutions to overcome the Red Planet’s harsh environment,” MountBonnell stated. 

Musk has also stated that attempting to colonize Mars would enable humans to develop advanced technology.

“Even if we fail at creating a Mars colony that can grow without continuous support from Earth, the absurdly ambitious nature of the goal nonetheless results in the creation of alien-level technology that is crushingly better than competitors who merely aim for Earth orbit,” Musk recently posted on X.

 

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