Teghaza 001, one of the oldest Martian meteorites, dated at more than 4.1 billion years

29 October 2026

A NASA-funded study published in the journal Science describes a Martian meteorite named Teghaza 001.
The rock is more than 4.1 billion years old, making it one of the oldest meteorites from Mars found on Earth.
It was discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2022 and takes its name from the salt plain of Teghaza in Mali.
The sample weighs nearly 800 grams and is one of roughly 435 known meteorites from Mars.
Zircon crystals in the rock were used to date it, and the dating shows Martian water altered it about 4.1 billion years ago, so the rock itself formed even earlier.
The lead author is Yang Liu of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the in-situ rubidium-strontium dating method was developed with Francois Tissot of Caltech.
The researchers identified thirteen possible places on Mars from which the rock could have come.