AI Summary

A two‑pound rock discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2022 has been identified as a fragment of Mars’ crust, likely launched toward Earth by an impact event. New analysis dates the meteorite to at least 4.1 billion years old, making it one of the oldest known samples from the Red Planet. Researchers note that the Sahara serves as a natural archive, having yielded 40‑million‑year‑old fossils and other meteorites, including a 4.5‑billion‑year‑old piece in 2019 that may have originated from a vanished protoplanet comparable in size to the Moon.

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