•  After analysing grains of the mineral zircon extracted from a Martian meteorite known as Black Beauty, scientists have found that Mars’ crust formation — which is the end product of planet formation — took place at least 100 million years earlier than on the earth.

• Up to now, mathematical models have suggested that the solidification of the Red Planet took up to 100 million years.

• The new study tackles the question by examining a chunk of Mars that streaked into the Saharan Desert and was discovered in 2011.
• The Black Beauty meteorite weighed 320 grams when found.

• The researchers secured 44 gm of the precious space rock Black Beauty and extracted seven bits of zircon that could be used in experiments.
• The data supports newer models indicating the very rapid formation of terrestrial planets.
• Scientists have found that the Red Planet’s outer layer hardened 4.547 billion years ago, only 20 million years after the birth of the Sun.
• The results indicate that Mars could have had an environment with oceans, and potentially life, much earlier than Earth.

• Water is considered to be an essential precursor for life, at least as we know it.

• Mars was once much more Earth-like, with a thick atmosphere, abundant water and global oceans.

The Hindu