Australian researchers have managed to pinpoint the exact home of the oldest and most famous Martian meteorite. 

Using a multidisciplinary approach involving a machine learning algorithm, local scientists have managed to identify the particular crater on Mars that ejected the so-called ‘Black Beauty’ meteorite, weighing 320 grams, and paired stones, which were first reported as being found in northern Africa in 2011.

Black Beauty is the only brecciated Martian sample available on Earth, meaning it contains angular fragments of multiple rock types cemented together which is different from all other Martian meteorites that contain single rock types.

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

“Finding the region where the ‘Black Beauty’ meteorite originates is critical because it contains the oldest Martian fragments ever found, aged at 4.48 billion years old, and it shows similarities between Mars’ very old crust, aged about 4.53 billion years old, and today’s Earth continents. 

“The region we identify as being the source of this unique Martian meteorite sample constitutes a true window into the earliest environment of the planets, including the Earth, which our planet lost because of plate tectonics and erosion.”

The researchers named the specific Mars crater after the Pilbara city of Karratha, located more than 1500km north of Perth in Western Australia, which is home to some of the oldest terrestrial rocks.

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

This enabled researchers to analyse a very large volume of high-resolution planetary images through a machine learning algorithm to detect impact craters.

The research paves the way to locate the ejection site of other Martian meteorites, in order to create an exhaustive view of the Red Planet’s geological history.

The study is accessible here.