A rose-colored rock found in the Sahara in 2022 turned out to be a piece of Mars.
Scientists dated the rock to over 4.1 billion years old. It is one of the oldest Mars rocks on Earth.
The rock got its name from the Teghaza salt plain in Mali, near where hunters found it.
Hunters found eight fragments weighing 800 grams together. The biggest is about the size of a fist.
A new dating method used a piece smaller than a fingernail. It kept the rare rock safe for future study.
Its minerals show water soaked deep into the young Mars. The planet was once warmer and wetter.
Only three Mars rocks on Earth are older than four billion years. Teghaza 001 may be the oldest.
A peer reviewer called it a Rosetta Stone for Mars. It can decode the red planet's early history.
Its chemistry matches the cratered southern highlands. No lander has ever touched that region.
An impact blasted the rock off Mars. It flew through space, fell as a meteor, and landed in the Sahara.
The NASA team says it has only scratched the surface. More studies of the ancient rock are on the way.
Why this ancient rock could answer big questions about water and life on early Mars.
Get the full breakdown, key numbers, and what happens next.
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