* SCIENTISTS HAVE IDENTIFIED THE PRESENCE OF WATER IN MARTIAN METEORITE NWA 7533 * IT CONTAINS SIGNATURES OF OXIDATION – WHICH COULD HAVE OCCURRED AS WATER FORMED * THE 84 GRAM NWA 7533

METEORITE WAS DISCOVERED IN NORTH WEST AFRICA IN 2012  * SCIENTISTS DETERMINED THE FOLLOWING YEAR THAT IT ORIGINATED FROM THE RED PLANET  By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE Published: 14:00

EDT, 30 October 2020 | Updated: 15:02 EDT, 30 October 2020 Analysis of a meteorite found in the Sahara Desert reveals the existence of water on Mars 4.4 billion years ago, scientists

report.  The mineral composition of Martian meteorite NWA 7533, found in 2012, reveals chemical signatures of oxidation – which would have occurred as water formed.  The 84 gram meteorite,

researchers have now deduced there was water present another 700,000 years prior to this estimate.    DIFFERENT TYPES OF SPACE ROCKS An asteroid is a large chunk of rock left over from

collisions or the early solar system. Most are located between Mars and Jupiter in the Main Belt. A comet is a rock covered in ice, methane and other compounds. Their orbits take them much

further out of the solar system. A meteor is what astronomers call a flash of light in the atmosphere when debris burns up. This debris itself is known as a meteoroid. Most are so small they

are vapourised in the atmosphere. If any of this meteoroid makes it to Earth, it is called a meteorite. Meteors, meteoroids and meteorites normally originate from asteroids and comets. If

there was water on Mars earlier than thought, that suggests water is possibly a natural byproduct of some process early on in planet formation.  This could help answer the question of where

water comes from, which in turn could impact theories on the origins of extraterrestrial life.   'Our samples of NWA 7533 were subjected to four different kinds of spectroscopic

analysis – ways of detecting chemical fingerprints,' said study author Professor Takashi Mikouchi at the University of Tokyo.  'We found strong evidence for oxidation of magma.  

'Igneous clasts, or fragmented rock, in the meteorite are formed from magma and are commonly caused by impacts and oxidation.  'This oxidation could have occurred if there was

water present on or in the Martian crust 4.4 billion years ago during an impact that melted part of the crust.' The analysis also suggests such an impact would have released a lot of

hydrogen. '[This] would have contributed to planetary warming at a time when Mars already had a thick insulating atmosphere of carbon dioxide,' said Mikouchi.  NORTH WEST AFRICAN

METEORITES   NWA 7533 Found: 2012 Mass: 84 g  NWA 7034 Found:  2011 Mass: 320 g  Almost a decade ago, two meteorites were discovered in the Sahara Desert, Africa – NWA 7034, found in 2011,

and NWA 7533, found in 2012, from which Mikouchi and colleagues obtained a sample for analysis.  NWA stands for North West Africa and the number is the order in which meteorites are

officially approved by the Meteoritical Society, an international planetary science organisation.   It's already known that both meteorites came from Mars, thanks to comparisons from

evidence gathered by Mars landers.    To confirm NWA 7533's Martian origin, comparisons were drawn from NASA's Viking mission in the 1970s, which landed some of the earliest

human-made instruments on the surface of the Red Planet.   'Some of these meteorites contain trapped gas which matches with the Martian atmosphere analysed by the Mars exploration

mission, NASA Viking.'  NWA 7533 and the more famous NWA 7034, better known as 'Black Beauty', are all part of the same group of at least 10 fragments, all with different

numbers, according to Mikouchi. 'These Martian meteorites have distinct, but identical oxygen isotope ratios from other extraterrestrial materials, so we know that they came from the

same parent body,' he told MailOnline.  'All of them fell on the Earth by the same event, but probably fragmented during atmospheric entry and scattered in the Sahara desert.

'Later people picked up separately and the fragments acquired different names.' In 2013, NWA 7034 was dated at 2.1 billion years old – the second oldest Martian meteorite after NWA

7533. Scientists said at the time the cricket ball sized meteorite contained evidence of more water than any other Martian meteorite found on Earth.   Part of NWA 7034 was donated to the

University of New Mexico by an American who bought it from a Moroccan meteorite dealer.  Many of the Martian meteorites that exist today have been found in the Sahara by Bedouin tribesmen

who know the rocks can fetch a pretty price in the marketplace of Casablanca.  The new study has been published in Science Advances.   WHAT IS METEORITE NWA 7034 - ALSO KNOWN AS BLACK

BEAUTY? Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, nicknamed Black Beauty, led to the creation of a new class of meteorite when it was discovered in 2011 in the Sahara Desert. NWA 7034's It weighs

approximately 11 ounces (320 grams) . After more than a year of intensive study, a team of US scientists determined in 2013 that the meteorite formed 2.1 billion years ago. This was during

the beginning of the most recent geologic period on Mars, known as the Amazonian. Previous studies by Nasa have also found that Black Beauty contains around ten times more water than other

Martian meteorites. NWA 7034 is made of cemented fragments of basalt, rock that forms from rapidly cooled lava.  The fragments are primarily feldspar and pyroxene, most likely from volcanic

activity.  This unusual meteorite's chemistry matches that of the Martian crust as measured by NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers and Mars Odyssey Orbiter.  Researchers theorise the

large amount of water contained in NWA 7034 may have originated from interaction of the rocks with water present in Mars' crust.  The meteorite also has a different mixture of oxygen

isotopes than has been found in other Martian meteorites, which could have resulted from interaction with the Martian atmosphere.