NASA Scientists Find Similarities in Formation of Mars and Earth

NASA Scientists Find Similarities in Formation of Mars and Earth

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A team of NASA scientists and their colleagues have found evidence from meteorites that Mars and Earth had a similar origin, but then the two planets evolved quite differently. Based on their analyses of two Martian meteorites, researchers have concluded that water in the Martian interior originated from planetary building blocks similar to those that formed Earth. This finding implies that chondritic meteorites containing small, granular minerals — not comets — are the source of water for terrestrial planets. The team’s findings are reported in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Researchers also found that, unlike on Earth, rocks on Mars that contain atmospheric volatiles such as water were not recycled deep into the planet’s interior. If that had been the case, the primordial water the researchers found would have been overprinted by recycled water from Mars’ atmosphere.