How Scientists Proved These Rocks Came From Mars.

The first Martian meteorite was identified in 1983, and the analysis that traced the rocks back to their origin on Mars via an impact 700,000 years ago. What's amazing is that while we needed rocks returned from the Moon to recognize lunar meteorites we didn't have the luxury with Martian meteorites. The crucial clue wasn't in the minerals, but noble gasses trapped within the rock when it was kicked into space, these gasses matched the isotopic ratios of the atmosphere sampled by Viking back in the 1970's

Some useful background reading:

Ingenuity animation by Simeon Schmauß

Mars impact and ejecta was simulated with Universe Sandbox

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Intro & Outro by Concodroid and Eclipsio

[OlleErikssonL]

The amount of information and fields of science you manage to understand and then summarize for the rest of us is staggering. You are a one of a kind!

[henrysalayne]

Could there be Earth meteorites on other bodies? That could be quite interesting. It could show how well organic material is preserved.

[raydunakin]

Thanks for this -- I've often wondered how they could determine the origin of Mars meteorites.

[gregsworldkitchen]

BSc Geology here. Very well explained, especially the dating (U/Pb decay). Well done sir. Mars is fascinating and I think they should send a rover mission to one of those origin craters for confirmation.

[Nivailo]

He's so excited about this particular subject, it made me excited about this particular subject, even though I'm half asleep now. Small atmospheric gas bubbles inside molten rocks crust? *exploding head gif*

[allenkemp]

“A CIA agent in the 1960’s charged with faking the moon landings” 😂😂😂

[Charonupthekuiper]

Brilliant science all round, the Viking probes amaze me because landing on Mars is a nightmare.

[christopherdaffron]

Yes when I learned that we have rocks from Mars here on earth, I most definitely wondered HOW that was known!!! I saw your video and immediately clicked on it to find out. Many Thanks!!

[hj-redravenheng]

Good explanation for the layperson Scott! As a geologist myself I've always wondered how the isotopic analysis and dating worked with these samples. I'm sure we'll find more and progress the science further in future.

[MikinessAnalog]

Discovering the dates Martian craters were created (with margin of error), then aligning those estimates with known Martian meteorites then allowing for interplanetary drift time ... awesome logic.
Of course if Earth can be hit, so can Mars.
I wonder if Mars has any Earth meteorites?

[Christopher-pezj]

Can't get enough of these videos from Scott thank you

[decivillain]

In Simple Rockets 2, someone has made a planet called Scott Munley.

[alecearnshaw]

Great video Scott! Finally understood how they know these things are from Mars!
BTW, at 4:30 the graph shows the proportion of Iron to Manganese (Mn), rather than to Magnesium.

[gg]

I thought you would talk about the core that Perseverance successfully grabbed this morning. Have you done a video on the MSR mission and all it's phases.

[freakshow]

nice one. Mn is not magnesium though, it is manganese. Mg is magnesium.

[CurtisDensmore]

I've been asking this for decades! Thank you!

[Spedley_]

Finding on Earth a piece of rock, probably from Mars is like amazing but in a hundred years when somebody hands you a bucket of Mars rock you'll say thanks and stick it in the garden.

[KC]

I actually collect Zircon crystals. I think its so cool to to have something that is older than the earth and was possibly from another planet.

[neithere]

Fantastic video. Thank you so much, Scott! Perfect balance between accessible and detailed.

[Olysker]

A decade from now feels about 4.3 billion years away in this timeline.