A global map of Mars identifies 13 locations whose mineralogy and chemical composition match those of meteorite Teghaza 001, one of the oldest Martian fragments ever found on Earth. The mapping narrows the rock's possible origin to a short list of candidate regions, although the authors caution that pinpointing the exact ejection site of a Martian meteorite will remain impossible.

Teghaza 001 carries clues linking it to the southern hemisphere highlands, an area of ancient crust consistent with the extreme age of the meteorite itself. By combining the sample's mineralogical and chemical information with available orbital data, the team was able to rule out most of the Martian surface and leave only 13 compatible sites on the table.

The strategy does not seek a single impact point, but rather to constrain the geological setting in which the material formed and was ejected. This kind of restriction is valuable because Martian meteorites are the only source of rocks from the red planet accessible in the laboratory, and without provenance context their geological interpretation is severely limited.

Knowing the candidate regions will help guide future orbital observations and, ultimately, allow Teghaza 001's composition to be compared with samples that surface missions can analyse directly.