Crater Dating

The oldest Earth rocks we have are 4.3 billion years old, and samples we've brought back from the Moon are even older. But what does that have to do with craters on Mars? When the Apollo missions brought back samples, those rocks let us confirm the age of parts of our lunar bestie for the first time. Now, scientific models use data from those samples to extrapolate the age of other geologic events in our Solar System. 

Thanks to our guest in this episode: 

• Dr. Beau Bierhaus, Senior Research Scientist - Lockheed Martin*

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AirSpace is created by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum with generous support from Lockheed Martin.

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