Almost a century ago, a meteorite turned up in a drawer at Purdue University. By the university’s own account, how it got there is a mystery — and if someone doesn’t draw inspiration from this and create the great Midwestern steampunk novel of our time,

The Lafayette meteorite was discovered in a drawer at Purdue University in 1931, with no clear indication of how it got there. A new analysis of the rock reveals evidence of liquid water on Mars 742 million years ago.

"We think the water came from the melting of nearby sub-surface ice called permafrost, and that the permafrost melting was caused by magmatic activity that still occurs periodically on Mars to the present day.

Researchers from Purdue University have confirmed the so-called Lafayette Meteorite encountered Water before it left Mars behind. The unlikely journey that brought the Lafayette Meteorite to Purdue University’s Department of Earth,