Extraterrestrial Water Found Trapped in Meteorite A meteorite that landed last year in a west Texas yard contains the first samples of extraterrestrial water. In a JSC clean room two days later, the grey rock was opened with a hammer. Scientists found blue and purple halite inside.
Halite is a salt crystal, similar to table salt.
These are the largest halite crystals ever seen by scientists in any extraterrestrial material. The presence of water inside the crystals was confirmed using several forms of scientific analysis. An image of salt crystals found in the West Texas meteorite. The crystals have turned blue and purple by radiation, and are estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. That means that the trapped water could predate the sun and planets in our Solar System.