METEORITE - ASTRONOMY
S85-39565 (For release August 1996) --- According to scientists, this 4.5 billion year old rock, labeled meteorite ALH84001, is believed to have once been a part of Mars and to contain fossil evidence that primitive life may have existed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago. The rock is a portion of a meteorite that was dislodged from Mars by a huge impact about 16 million years ago and that fell to Earth in Antarctica 13,000 years ago. The meteorite was found in Allan Hills ice field, Antarctica, by an annual expedition of the National Science Foundation?s Antarctic Meteorite Program in 1984. It is preserved for study at the Johnson Space Center?s (JSC) Meteorite Processing Laboratory in Houston, Texas.
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Details
NASA ID
S85-39565
Date Created
August 28, 1985
Center
JSC
Media Type
image
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