The new findings challenge existing theories of planet formation.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Researchers analyzed the Chassigny meteorite, which fell to Earth in 1815. New analysis of planetary meteorites Mars challenges current thinking about how the planet obtained the elements of life in its early formation.
These meteorites are thought to be samples from the interior of Mars. Thus, meteoroids are thought to provide a window into the early days of the solar system.
Reported from Space, Friday (24/6/2022), the main hypothesis for the formation of rocky planets like Earth is that these planets initially obtained volatile substances (such as water and elements that evaporate at low temperatures) from the solar nebula, a disk of matter that revolves around young sun. These volatile substances leach into the fiery magma ocean of the young planets but then escape their atmosphere.
However, new research suggests that the development of Mars may have been different. Sandrine Péron, a postdoctoral fellow at ETH Zürich in Switzerland, and Sujoy Mukhopadhyay, professor at the University of California, Davis, made measurements of small amounts of the isotope krypton, a noble gas, in meteorite samples at the UC Davis Noble Gas Laboratory. They were able to deduce the origin of the elements in the rock.
The pair found isotopic ratios of krypton indicating the volatiles came from chondritic sources, not those associated with the solar nebula. The findings suggest that volatiles from meteorites were introduced into the Red Planet’s mantle much earlier than scientists previously thought, while the nebula was still around.
Mars is thought to have cooled much faster than Earth. The planet took about 4 million years to solidify, compared to 50 million to 100 million years for our planet. This means the Red Planet offers an early insight into the solar system’s volatile history.
“The composition of the Martian interior for krypton is almost purely chondritic, but the atmosphere is solar,” Péron said in a statement.
