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Ice on a Martian Crater

Meteors that have blasted off Mars have shown indications of what the early Martian atmosphere was like. They provide evidence that Mars was wet enough for life to exist. There have been 69 meteors found in our Solar System that originated from Mars. These meteorites show the presence of sulfur on the Martians surface. This discovery provides evidence that Mars once has been warm enough to allow water to exist in the surface by the effect of sulfur dioxide.

In contrast to Mars, on Earth it produces the opposite effect: it has a net cooling effect. This discovery shows how different these two planets are, but also the capacity of both planets to sustain living creatures. These asteroids bring insight to the evolution of Mars, and the possibility of having extraterrestrial neighbors.

By: Curiosity Rover Blog; Chm1046 Honors Project: Chemistry Group: Denisse Ziani and Stephanie Galdeano