Scientists locate Martian origin of ‘Black Beauty’ meteorite, found in Morocco

The 4.48-billion-year-old Martian meteorite found in Morocco back in 2011 has been traced back to one of planet Mars’ 90 million visible craters by West Australian astro-geologists.

‌Nicknamed Black Beauty, the meteorite comes from the southern hemisphere of the red planet, according to the conclusions of a study by the Australian University of Curtin through artificial intelligence (AI).

‌The discovery by the researchers from Curtin University in Perth will provide additional and anticipated insights into the evolution of planets in the solar system, which formed 4.57 billion years ago.

‌Officially called “Northwest Africa 7533” or “NWA 7533,” Black Beauty weighs 320 grams and was discovered in the Western Sahara near Bir Anzarane, South of Morocco.

‌Researchers at Curtin University used an algorithm to detect craters. On Mars, 1.5 billion years ago, a collision created a crater 40 kilometers in diameter. A second crater formed 5 to 10 million years ago, ejecting debris from the first collision into space.

‌The research team used data from more than 90 million craters detected by AI to identify likely sites of origin.  To identify the meteorite’s most likely origin site, researchers used a machine learning algorithm to analyze the size and distribution of 94m impact craters on the surface of Mars.

‌The AI assessed tens of thousands of images taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s context camera. Of 19 candidate craters, the team narrowed the origin site down to one that had characteristics matching the meteorite’s properties.

‌Locating Black Beauty’s origins was motivated by a desire to understand the early geological history of Mars, said the authors of the study, published one the Nature scientific journal.

‌The discovery unveiled how the planet maintained water in a liquid state on its surface 4.4 billion years ago, offering additional insight on the history of space and the universe.