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.

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,

The study identified when water interacted with the meteorite and established that the dating was unaffected by events after it left Mars.

An asteroid struck Mars 11 million years ago and sent pieces of the red planet hurtling through space. One of these chunks of Mars eventually crashed into the Earth somewhere near Purdue University and is one of the few meteorites that can be traced directly to Mars.

"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.

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.

A Martian meteorite that landed on Earth more than a century ago has helped scientists learn about the history of water on the Red Planet.