The solid surface of Mars formed 100 million years before Earth’s – meaning life would have had a head start to evolve on the Red Planet.

Early Mars, like the other rocky planets, was covered in a global magma ocean. The top of that sea of molten rock eventually hardened to a crust, but we weren’t sure exactly when – researchers thought it could have happened between 30 million and 100 million years after the start of the solar system. Now, we have evidence that it was much faster.

Laura Bouvier …