4-billion-year-old 'Rosetta Stone' found in Sahara Desert could unlock the secret history of water on Mars

space.com Nov 6, 2026

4-billion-year-old ‘Rosetta Stone’ found in Sahara Desert could unlock the secret history of water on Mars

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Nov 6, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

A rose‑colored rock named Teghaza 001, recovered from Mali’s Sahara in 2022, has been identified as one of the three oldest Martian meteorites, dating back more than 4.1 billion years. Weighing about 800 grams, the meteorite was blasted from Mars by an impact and later fell to Earth. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory analyzed its unique blend of igneous minerals and textures, which mirror materials seen in Mars’ southern highlands. Zircon crystals within the rock were dated using a novel rubidium‑strontium technique, revealing water alteration around 4.1 billion years ago and suggesting the rock formed even earlier. The findings, published in Science, pinpoint 13 possible Martian source regions and offer a rare glimpse into early crust formation, water‑rock interactions, and atmospheric loss on ancient Mars.

💡 Why It Matters

· Teghaza 001 provides the first direct sample of a previously unsampled Martian crustal region, allowing scientists to reconstruct the planet’s earliest water cycle and atmospheric evolution.

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What’s that bright ‘star’ in the early morning sky? It’s not a…

Early morning commuters have spotted a bright, star‑like object in the east‑southeast sky, which is actually Venus. After its inferior conjunction on Oct. 24, Venus moved from the evening to the morning sky, now rising more than 90 minutes before sunrise. It will rise three minutes earlier each day, peaking on Nov. 29 at magnitude –4.9, 12 times brighter than Jupiter and 25 times brighter than Sirius. By mid‑December it will rise nearly four hours before sunrise, then gradually descend and disappear by July.

💡 Venus’s unprecedented early‑morning appearance offers a rare, easily visible celestial event that can spark public interest in astronomy and highlight planetary motion’s predictable beauty.

space.com · Nov 6

AST SpaceMobile announces new ‘Blacklift’ rocket, targets 2028 launch debut

AST SpaceMobile announced the development of its reusable Blacklift rocket, slated for its first launch in 2028. The vehicle will carry up to 20 tons to low Earth orbit, enabling the deployment of five BlueBird broadband satellites per flight. The company secured a $500 million supply agreement with Firefly Aerospace for engines and services, and an $800 million licensing deal to build its own Miranda and Vira engines after initial flights. Blacklift aims to give AST SpaceMobile regular, cost‑effective access to orbit and expand its global connectivity mission.

💡 By creating a dedicated launch platform, AST SpaceMobile reduces reliance on third‑party providers, potentially accelerating satellite deployment and lowering long‑term launch costs. This vertical integration could shift competitive dynamics in the burgeoning LEO launch market.

space.com · Nov 6

On this day in space! Nov. 6, 1572: A German astronomer discovers…

On 6 November 1572 German astronomer Wolfgang Schulër sighted a brilliant new object in Cassiopeia with the naked eye, describing it as bright as Venus and visible in daylight. Within days Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe began systematic observations, publishing the treatise De Stella Nova and cementing his reputation as the discoverer. The transient, later named “Tycho’s Star,” remained visible to the naked eye for 16 months. At the time, the prevailing Aristotelian view held that the heavens were immutable, so the appearance of a “new star” challenged entrenched cosmology. Modern analysis re‑classifies the event as SN 1572, a Type Ia supernova resulting from a white dwarf accreting matter in a binary system, located about 13 000 light‑years away. Its remnants continue to be studied X‑ray telescopes.

💡 The observation shattered the belief in an unchanging sky, providing the first concrete evidence that stellar phenomena could evolve and laying groundwork for modern astrophysics.

teslarati.com · Nov 6

SpaceX’s next Starship flight set to make history on Friday the 13th

SpaceX has set Friday, November 13 for Starship Flight 15, the company’s first attempt to catch the orbital vehicle with its launch tower. The date was announced by Vice President of Launch Kiko Dontchev at the UP.Summit, marking the first launch target disclosed directly by a SpaceX executive rather than FAA planning slides, which had listed a window of November 8‑12. Flight 15 will aim to recover both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship ship, a maneuver Elon Musk described as “more likely than not” during the third‑quarter earnings call and illustrated with an animation of the ship swinging into the tower’s “chopsticks.” Booster 22 and Ship 42 have completed full‑duration static fires, and a regulatory license from the FAA is still pending.

💡 A successful tower catch would prove full recovery of an orbital‑class rocket, paving the way for rapid reuse and dramatically lowering launch costs.

space.com · Nov 5

On this day in space! Nov. 5, 2002: NASA’s Galileo spacecraft flies…

On November 5, 2002, NASA’s aging Galileo spacecraft performed a close flyby of Jupiter’s small moon Amalthea, only 99 miles from the surface. The probe entered safe mode 30 minutes later due to intense Jovian radiation, but engineers restored operations quickly. Amalthea, the reddest object in the solar system, is a low‑density, icy rubble pile that generates more heat than it receives from the Sun. Less than a year later, Galileo was deliberately plunged into Jupiter’s atmosphere, ending its mission.

💡 The flyby confirmed Amalthea’s porous, ice‑rich composition, offering clues about the formation of irregular Jovian moons. It also demonstrated Galileo’s resilience in extreme radiation, extending valuable data collection before its final descent.

space.com · Nov 5

Earth has captured a new mini moon — but it won’t stick…

Earth captured a temporary mini‑moon, 2026 QQ8, which entered orbit in April 2026 and was first observed in August 2026. The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center announced the discovery on October 29. QQ8 will remain bound to Earth until December 2026, after which it will escape in 2027. The object orbits the Sun every 359 days, approaches Earth roughly every decade, and will come as close as 353,000 miles (568,000 km). At about 6 feet (2 m) in diameter, it would burn up if it entered Earth’s atmosphere.

💡 The brief capture of QQ8 demonstrates Earth’s ability to temporarily seize passing asteroids, offering a natural laboratory for studying gravitational capture and the dynamics of near‑Earth objects.