Curtin-led research finds origin of Martian meteorites - Australian Defense Magazine

New research led by Curtin University has pinpointed the home of the oldest and most famous Martian meteorite for the first time, offering important geological clues to Mars’ early origins.

Using a multidisciplinary approach involving machine learning algorithms, new research – published today in Nature Communication – identified a specific crater on Mars that ejected the so-called ‘Black Beauty’ meteorite, weighing 320 grams, and paired rock, which was first reported to have been found in northern Africa in 2011.

Researchers have named a particular Martian crater after the town of Karratha in the Pilbara, located more than 1500km north of Perth in Western Australia, which is home to one of the oldest terrestrial rocks.

Lead author Dr Anthony Lagain, from Curtin’s Space Science and Technology Center in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the exciting discovery offered previously unknown details about the Mars meteorite NWA 7034, known as ‘Black Beauty’, which is widely studied. around the world. Black Beauty is the only sample of Martian breccia available on Earth, meaning it contains angular fragments of several rock types cemented together that differ from all other Martian meteorites that contain a single rock type.

“For the first time, we know the geological context of the only sample of Martian brecciation available on Earth, 10 years before NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is set to send back samples collected by the Perseverance rover currently exploring the Jezero crater,” Dr Lagain said. .

“Finding the region where the ‘Black Beauty’ meteorite originated is very important because it contains the oldest Martian fragment ever found, 4.48 billion years old, and it shows similarities between the very old Martian crust, around 4.53 billion years old, and the continental crust. earth today. The region we identified as the source of this unique sample of Martian meteorites is a true window into the planet’s earliest environments, including Earth, that were lost to our planet due to plate tectonics and erosion.”

The discovery was made thanks to an algorithm developed in-house at Curtin by an interdisciplinary group that includes members from the Curtin Institute for Computation and the School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, as well as the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Center and Australian Space. Data Analysis Facility, with funding from the Australian Research Council.

Using one of the Southern Hemisphere’s fastest supercomputers at the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Center, and Curtin HIVE (Hub for Immersive Visualization and eResearch), the researchers analyzed an enormous volume of high-resolution planetary images via machine learning algorithms to detect impact craters.

Co-author Professor Gretchen Benedix, also of Curtin’s Space Science and Technology Center in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the research paved the way for finding the location of other Martian meteorite ejections, in order to create the most complete view of the Martian meteorite. The geological history of the Red Planet.

“We also adapted the algorithm used to determine the ejection point of Black Beauty from Mars to unlock other secrets of the Moon and Mercury,” said Professor Benedix.

“This will help unravel their geological history and answer burning questions that will aid future Solar System investigations such as the Artemis program to send humans to the Moon by the end of this decade or the BepiColombo mission, in orbit around Mercury in 2025.”

The research also involved experts from Paris-Saclay University, Paris Observatory, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, French National Center for Scientific Research, Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in Ivory Coast and Northern Arizona University and Rutgers University in the United States. America.

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