April 23rd 2012 - SUERC Researchers Probe Martian Meteorite

A team of SUERC researchers led by Dr Fin Stuart are to analyse a 0.2g fragment of the Tissint Meteorite named after the area of Morocco where it fell last year.  Of some 41,000 meteorites discovered on Earth only 61 are thought to have originated on Mars.  The SUERC team will measure the abundance of the, so-called, cosmogenic isotopes of helium, neon and argon.  This will establish how long the meteorite was exposed to cosmic radiation in space and thus how long ago the meteorite spent between being ejected from Mars and arriving on Earth.  Previous analyses of Martian meteorites suggest several ejections of meteorites representing major impacts on the Martian surface.  Follow this link to see how the BBC web site reported the work of the SUERC team.


First published: 23 April 2012

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