Every month, on average, a rock from Mars lands on Earth. Most are never found, but those that have been picked up suggest that the theory for how they get here
May 17th, 2002
Meteorite Hunters Find Rare Booty in African Desert
The Western Sahara, a fertile hunting ground for enthusiasts seeking meteorites, offered up two rare Martian rocks in the past few months. The discoveries bring the total of all known Martian meteorites to twenty-six. (Meteorites are smallish rocks from space that fall to Earth. If they don’t impact, they are meteors.) Of the two, one is a rock that is unique to Mars, called nakhlite. Nakhlite is composed of pyroxine, a mineral common to Earth rocks, but a nakhlite’s ratio of calcium, magnesium and iron in its pyroxine is what makes it unique.
May 15th, 2002
Mars meteorites reunited after long split
Separate nomadic bands in northwest Africa have discovered two martian meteorites, bringing the total of identified red planet rocks to 26, planet scientists announced this week. One of the specimens consists of two fragments that scientists speculate broke apart thousands of years ago during natural erosion on Earth, but no one knows for sure when they split. “Maybe they were kicked apart by a camel,” joked Tony Irving, a University of Washington planetary geologist who studied the stones.
May 14th, 2002
‘Mars Meteorite’s’ Link to Life Questioned
A meteorite that fell to Earth from Mars purported to offer evidence of past Martian biology has fallen from grace. That’s the assertion from two scientists who say the rock’s strongest link to life — as claimed by other researchers — has broken down. In December 1984, ALH 84001 — often called the “Mars rock” — was picked up in Antarctica by a National Science Foundation-sponsored meteorite-hunting expedition. Tossed into space by an asteroid or comet that hit Mars billions of years past, the tiny piece of rock eventually found its way to Earth. It is believed to have landed in Antarctica some 13,000 years ago. In August 1996, a science team led by NASA Johnson Space Center experts declared that they had uncovered evidence inside ALH 84001 for Martian biological activity. Ultra-small and segmented, rod-shaped structures were read by the team as the fossil leftovers of Martian microbial life. Since that time, the diminutive four and three-quarter pounds (1.93 kilograms) of potato-shaped Mars rock has weighed heavy on minds of scientists around the world.
April 12th, 2002
Sticks and stones: the Martian Meteorite debate rages on The Christian Science Monitor
Mars has always been a provocateur. The planet has a long history of making us uneasy, from the portents of violence our ancestors associated with its red glow, to our science-fiction nightmares of malicious, technologically superior alien invaders. And Mars is still stirring things up in the scientific community. For several years now, there has been an on-going debate as to whether a meteorite from Mars contains the fossilized remnants of microbial life. Some scientists think we no longer have to wonder about whether there is other life in the universe; we have the remains of tiny Martian cousins in our laboratories at this very moment. Others remain skeptical, claiming that every structure and chemical in the meteorite could have been formed by natural processes that have nothing to do with life, like chemical weathering and heating. Despite the controversy, the Martian Meteorite debate has already taught us a lot about what kind of questions to ask the next time we get our hands on a sample of Martian soil, as well as shown us how little we understand about the threshold of life itself.
March 20th, 2002
Controversy Continues: Mars Meteorite Clings to Life – Or Does It?
Following years of rigorous study, the inside story of whether meteorite ALH 84001
March 17th, 2002
No Knockouts in Martian Meteorite Showdown Sky and Telescope
All last week, attendees at the 33rd annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas, looked forward to one of the meeting’s final sessions, whose main attraction was the controversial 4
January 25th, 2002
Rock hunters bag five Mars meteorites
Exploring the coldest and hottest places on Earth, space rock hunters have found five new meteorites from Mars, bringing the number of known stones from the red planet to 24. Planet scientists express keen interest in rare martian meteorites, some of which have offered tantalizing clues about whether the planet once possessed oceans or life. The recent cache actually includes six specimens, but two are presumed to be chunks from the same meteorite. One of the pair weighs in at 30 pounds (13.7 kg), the second-largest Mars meteorite fragment ever recovered, NASA scientists said this week.
December 9th, 2001
Meteorite trip excites scientist Honolulu Star-Bulletin
University of Hawaii geologist Linda Martel, who wanted to be an astronaut as a little girl, will pursue her fascination with space in search of meteorites during a seven-week expedition in Antarctica. “It’s like a field trip to the moon and asteroids,” she said. “I picture this as being in a space outpost.” An educational specialist in the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, Martel is scheduled to leave tomorrow to join nine other scientists on this year’s Antarctic Search for Meteorites team. The National Science Foundation, NASA and the Smithsonian Institution sponsor the annual expedition to search for clues to the origins of the solar system, planets and possible life on Mars.
November 24th, 2001
Mars Magma May Have Held Significant Water, Say Scientists National Geographic
These days, it seems like scientists are searching everywhere for water on Mars. Geologists Timothy Grove of MIT and Harry McSween, Jr. of the University of Tennessee have been looking for Martian water right here on Earth. The scientists