OLDEST MARTIAN METEORITE FOUND

Internet UFO Group Media Archive

From:watanabe@acs.ucalgary.ca (AUFORA News Update)
Title:OLDEST MARTIAN METEORITE FOUND
Source:AUFORA News
Date:March 09, 1996


On Wednesday, scientists released information that they had found the

oldest Martian meteorite to date.

The meteorite, named Allan Hills 84001, is around 4 billion years

old. It was found in Antartica by a team of scientists from Manchester

University and the American Museum of Natural History.

The meteorite is unique not only because it came from Mars (only

about a dozen other meteorites have been found which originated on Mars),

but also because it was by far the oldest Martian meteorite found. The

others were all around 1.3 billion years old.

The age of the meteorite coincides with the Lunar Cataclysm, a period

between 3.9 and 4.1 billion years ago in which the moon underwent massive

meteoric bombardment. Allan Hill 84001 is thought to have been ejected

from Mars through similar bombardment.

Some people feel that it is very possible that life (microbial)

origninated on other planets, and was then transferred to Earth. The

discovery of Allan Hill 84001 and other Martian meteorites shows that a

transport system does indeed exist.

Jack Farmer and David Des Marais from NASA's Ames Space Science

Division said in a recent report that "of the other planets in our solar

system, Mars holds the greatest potential for having developed

extraterrestrial life".

Ironically, life on Earth was thought to have originated on Earth

between 3.5 and 4.1 billion years ago.