Share A sliver of Martian rock that once lay hidden in a university drawer has helped researchers better understand the Red Planet’s geological history. Using isotopic dating, a team at Purdue University has determined that the “Lafayette Meteorite” likely interacted with liquid water approximately 742 million years ago. It was a long journey to this discovery, however, and one that happened partially by chance. About 11 million years ago, an asteroid collided with Mars, sending plumes of debris beyond the planet’s atmosphere. One of those meteorites eventually succumbed to Earth’s…
