NASA announced that the Curiosity rover on Mars had successfully performed its first rock-dating experiment outside Earth. This is a major breakthrough since most rock analysis has usually used samples that are found on Earth.
Making a first on history, researchers from the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) ;ed by Kenneth Farley were able to determine the age of a rock from Mars. It was the first age analysis conducted on another planet.
The Martian rover took a rock sample from an outcrop in Gale Crater near its landing location and subjected it into heating at high enough temperatures. The process had released the gases found inside the rock which could be further studied by the mass spectrometer that is on-board in the Curiosity.
The researchers found that the rock sample age may be between 3.86 billion to 4.56 billion years old. It is the second rock drilled in the planet which they named as "Cumberland."
"The age is not surprising, but what is surprising is that this method worked using measurements performed on Mars," said Farley. "When you're confirming a new methodology, you don't want the first result to be something unexpected. Our understanding of the antiquity of the Martian surface seems to be right."
The researchers analyzed the sample identified as sedimentary rock. It is a type of rock that is formed in layers from material that has eroded from the walls of the crater in a span of millions of years. Therefore, the age of the drilled sample by Curiosity actually represents the age of those bits and pieces combined.
Still, the researchers believed that the results have encouraged especially because the experiment was conducted long after the confirmation was made on the final design parameters of the instruments used in Curiosity.
The study was published in the December 9 issue of Science Express.
