The Allan Hills 84001 meteorite dubiously stated by many - including President Bill Clinton - that it may indicate proof of life on Mars is just a lump of rock and water.
The four billion-year-old rock, found in Antarctica in 1984, made news across the world in 1996 after a group of NASA-led scientists claimed it contained tiny bacterium fossils.
According to Daily Mail, their claims led Clinton to call a televised news conference to discuss the discovery immediately. He described the discovery as one of the most amazing insights into our cosmos that science has ever unearthed.
The president used the claims to justify increased financing for America's space program. Scientists were suspicious about the NASA-led results and questioned the fanfare around the apparent discovery even at the time. Researchers spent decades analyzing the 4lb rock in great detail, and they have now been validated.
VINCENNES BAY, ANTARCTICA - JANUARY 11: Giant tabular icebergs are surrounded by ice floe drift in Vincennes Bay on January 11, 2008, in the Australian Antarctic Territory. Australia's CSIRO's atmospheric research unit has found the world is warming faster than predicted by the United Nations' top climate change body, with harmful emissions exceeding worst-case estimates.
US Ex-President Bill Clinton Lauded 1996 Mars Meteorite Discovery
It was fascinating because of where it came from and what it carried with it - supposedly fossils - and former US President Bill Clinton lauded the said discovery.
The tale quickly spread over the internet. This was the earliest evidence of life, which turned out to be bacteria from Mars. It left a distinctive pattern in the rock called serpentinization, which was named for its likeness to snakeskin.
Clinton hailed the findings on Allan Hills 84001 a "moment of discovery" and promised a special "space summit," which is unusual for a sitting US president to remark directly on the publication of a new scientific study. He carefully tempered his remarks on the South Lawn of the White House if the discovery turned out to be incorrect, but his tone went for the heavens.
"If this discovery is confirmed, it will surely be one of the most stunning insights into our universe that science has ever uncovered," he said in a statement.
Claims on Mars Meteorite on Antarctica Debunked
A new study obtained by Science Times debunks the 1996 claim made by Bill Clinton and other scientists that it could establish the origins of life on Mars.
According to "Organic Synthesis Associated With Serpentinization and Carbonation on Early Mars," the apparent "serpentinization" of the rock occurred due to "aqueous alteration" of the stone under precise geological circumstances in early Martian geology. It was created by water, not aliens, to put it another way.
ALSO READ: Earth and Mars Believed to Be Formed By Collision Between Moon-Sized Rocks
This setback brings to a close 25 years of waning faith in the world's joyful response to the meteorite's finding. The truth may still exist, but it is not contained within this rock.
Researchers look at the Allan Hills 84001 martian meteorite (ALH 84001). To characterize the nature of water-rock interactions on early Mars, they performed nanoscale studies.
Mineral carbonation and serpentinization events on Mars resulted in globs of organic material within the rock, they discovered. When iron or magnesium-rich volcanic rocks come in contact with flowing water, serpentinization occurs.
This alters their mineral nature and causes the rock to generate hydrogen. Carbonization occurs when acidic water containing dissolved carbon dioxide reacts with rocks. Volcanic activity mixing with early Martian saline seas pouring over rocks caused this more than four billion years ago. Organic signs were left behind, which the current study team claims are proof of the salty water.
Mars Meteorite AH 84001 Explained
Experts named the Martian meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 after the first specimen collected in 1984 at the Allan Hills site in Antarctica, Salt Wire explained. It was formed as part of Mars' crust about four billion years ago and remained there until recently, about 17 million years ago, when an asteroid impacted Mars and sent this rock into space, where it roamed around for years before crashing near the region.
Roberta Score, a meteorite specialist with the US Antarctic Program, found it in Antarctica in 1984. It had been lying on the surface of ice and snow for more than 10,000 years, untouched by anything except wind.
ALH 84001 is primarily formed of orthopyroxene, a silicate mineral, but it also includes "carbonate globules," organic material that has been linked to life but may be explained in a variety of ways, including contamination on Earth.
Because meteorites stand out when they land, Antarctica is ideal for meteorite hunting. For similar reasons, the systematic hunt for meteorites in Canada has typically centered on the Prairies.
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