The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Curiosity Rover has discovered rare meteorites come from Mars the American Geophysical Union reported in a press release.
"We really nailed it," Sushil Atreya of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor said in a statement. "This direct reading from Mars settles the case with all Martian meteorites.
The new findings include two kinds of argon gas in argon 36, and argon 38. Curiosity was able to find these through its Sample Analysis at Mars tool (SAM).
"Other isotopes measured by SAM on Curiosity also support the loss of atmosphere, but none so directly as argon," Atreya in a statement. "Argon is the clearest signature of atmospheric loss because it's chemically inert and does not interact or exchange with the Martian surface or the interior. This was a key measurement that we wanted to carry out on SAM."
Astronauts were also able to easily obtain the lighter form of the gas, which was more readily available since it sifts to the top of the planet's atmosphere, and does not need a lot of energy to get away.
According to the Union, the argon gasses, also live a natural life in the solar system.
However, their existence on Mars is not accurate because the planet's initial atmosphere disappeared into space.
If Mars original atmosphere were to be intact, its argon gas ratio would be similar to the sun and planet Jupiter since the two contain too much gravity for isotopes or chemical elements to get away.
Argon gas also represents a small portion of overall gasses taken by space, but is unique since it is a noble gas or rare gas such as helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon according to Merriam Webster.
The sun and Jupiter have an argon gas ratio of 5.5, which depicts a primordial solar system or one that is first developed or created.
