Martian meteorite, shergottite – SNC, Sahara Desert, North West Africa (paired with Swayyah 005)
More rare than diamonds or gold, meteorites from Mars are among the most exotic substances on Earth with less than 350 kg (770 lbs) known to exist — and, as would be expected, there is less Mars on Earth than the Moon (about 25% as much). For many reasons, scientists long imagined an esoteric group of unusual meteorites with similar features were planetary in origin, and it was thought these meteorites were either from Venus or Mars. Scientists speculated an asteroid impact must have 'kicked' some of the material off one of these planets, and as Mars has a weaker gravitational field and thinner atmosphere than Venus — which meant less energy would be required to eject the specimens from the Martian surface — it was reasoned these strange meteorites had to be from Mars.
And then there was proof! A suspected Martian meteorite contained impact glass and researchers determined that within the glass there were tiny bubbles, and within these tiny bubbles were tiny amounts of gas. The gas was analyzed and it matched perfectly with the signature of the Martian atmosphere, which we learned about as a result of NASA’s Viking space probes which were sent to Mars in the mid-1970s.
44 x 25 x 38 mm (1.75 x 1 x 1.5 in.) and 52 grams (0.114 lbs).
The analysis of this meteorite was led by Dr. Anthony Irving, among the world’s foremost meteorite classification experts.
