Curtin's Space Science and Technology Centre revealed the exact origin of the oldest Martian meteorite Black Beauty through machine learning. Dr. Anthony Lagain, the lead author of the research, said that the discovery provided them with the geological context of the only brecciated Martian sample available on Earth. The study was published in Nature Communications.
Machine Learning Identifies Mars' Meteorite Black Beauty's Origin
Researchers used the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre and the Curtin HIVE (Hub for Immersive Visualisation and eResearch) supercomputer machine learning algorithm to detect impact craters. The supercomputer discovered roughly 90 million impact craters through the dozens of high-resolution photos from various Mars missions. Through these images, the researchers were able to identify the home crater of Black Beauty. They called it the Karratha Crater, named after the Pilbara city of Karratha — home to one of the oldest terrestrial rocks — in Australia.
"For the first time, we know the geological context of the only brecciated Martian sample available on Earth, 10 years before the NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is set to send back samples collected by the Perseverance rover currently exploring the Jezero crater," Dr. Lagain said.
Dr. Lagain added that finding the home crater of the Black Beauty is crucial since it contains the oldest remnants of Martian fragments ever discovered. According to him, the area offers an accurate view into the early environments of the planets, including the Earth.
Lagain's co-author, Professor Gretchen Benedix, said the study paved the way to find the Martian meteorites' ejection site that could create the most complete view of Mars's geological history.
She added that they were modifying the algorithm used to locate Black Beauty's site of ejection to unveil other secrets from the Moon and Mercury.
The BepiColombo mission and the Artemis program will both benefit from this work as it helps to unravel the planets' geological histories and provide answers to pressing questions that will aid future investigations of the solar system. The BepiColombo mission will orbit Mercury in 2025. Artemis program plans to put people on the Moon by the end of the decade.
Experts from different parts of the world participated in the research. Félix Houphouët-Boigny University on the Ivory Coast, French National Centre for Scientific Research, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris-Saclay University, Paris Observatory, Northern Arizona University, and Rutgers University were part of the research.
Martian Meteorite Black Beauty Historical Data
According to NASA, Martian Meteorite Black Beauty, also known as the Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, is a Martian meteorite that weighs approximately 11 ounces. Its recorded historical date is Jan. 25, 2019.
The meteorite formed 2.1 billion years ago, in the early stages of the most recent geologic epoch on Mars known as the Amazonian. The meteorite, which was discovered to contain 10 times as much water as any previous Martian meteorite, very closely resembles surface rocks.
Carl Agee, director, and curator, of the University of New Mexico's Institute of Meteoritics in Albuquerque, was part of the team who named the meteorite. He said that through it, they would be able to tell what volcanism was like 2 billion years ago as well as a glimpse of ancient surface and environmental conditions on the Red Planet.
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