Scientists confirm discovery of rocks that fell to Earth from Mars

It's amazing that small pieces of Mars can make their way to earth.

www.boston.com...

Scientists are confirming that 15 pounds of rock collected recently in Morocco fell to Earth from Mars during a meteorite shower last July.

This is only the fifth time in history scientists have chemically confirmed Martian meteorites that people witnessed falling. The fireball was spotted in the sky six months ago, but the rocks weren’t discovered on the ground in North Africa until the end of December.

This is an important and unique opportunity for scientists trying to learn about Mars’ potential for life. So far, no NASA or Russian spacecraft has returned bits of Mars, so the only samples scientists can examine are those that come here in a meteorite shower.

The new samples were scooped up by dealers from those who found them. Even before the official certification, scientists at NASA, museums and universities scrambled to buy or trade these meteorites.

“It’s incredibly fresh. It’s highly valuable for that reason,” said Carl Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics and curator at the University of New Mexico. “This is a beauty. It’s gorgeous.”

Meteorite dealer Darryl Pitt said he is charging $11,000 to $22,500 an ounce and has sold most of his supply already. At that price, the Martian rock costs about 10 times as much as gold.

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As a rock and mineral collector, I think it's fascinating that I could buy a tiny piece of Mars, but I do question if something so rare and valuable shouldn't be in a museum or other appropriate place.

reply to post by isyeye


I saw this online and thought, how do I get one!

I am a crazy some would say Mars fan. I'd love to have a piece of Mars to put on display.

Cool thread anything on Mars gets a S&F from me

S&F for you!

Good story mate

I guess these meteorites could be from Mars but there is no conclusive evidence that would say for sure. We don't know what isotopes will be found on other planets except for places we earthlings have been. We haven't been anywhere but the earth, moon, and Mars to test.

Originally posted by consciousgod
I guess these meteorites could be from Mars but there is no conclusive evidence that would say for sure. We don't know what isotopes will be found on other planets except for places we earthlings have been. We haven't been anywhere but the earth, moon, and Mars to test.

Yes, you expanded my thought process here. It might be from Mars, or it might be from another body in the universe with a like makeup of Mars.
Firstly, I was going to say: Wow, so parts of other planets come flying our way? Just didn't know that. What, are these rocks pulled towards the sun but we're in their path? Or some gravitational tug between Earth and Mars as we pass each other? Or just what does cause a rocky planet to fling part of itself away from itself? Does a chunk of Earth occasionally take flight and hit Venus or Mercury? Hmmm...

Which has the higher probability? Rocks mysteriously fell through space or were purposefully transported through space?

no biggy
rocks reach escape velocity by them selves all the time
challenger space shuttles ....not so much

Meteors, shooting stars, asteroids, and yes, even boulders considered small moons that travel along large elliptical orbits can and do often either intersect with Earth or become captured by Earth for a short time. This happens so often one must think the amount of flotsam and jetsam floating around out there must be staggeringly immense considering the size of this galaxy let alone the universe.

To actually KNOW this is from Mars and not just Mars like would be awesome. Otherwise you may hold in your hand some chunk of rock from some distant galaxy from the other side of the universe that traveled through a wormhole for billions of light years to get here. Er.. I'd like to confirm the latter too. At least you can be sure it didn't come from New Jersey.

reply to post by isyeye


Its copyrighted information but Velikovsky and even Homer, who wrote the LLiad or
was it the Trojan Wars, indicated Mars was close enough to drop rocks on Earth that
Mars got from Venus. These so called scientists infringe copyrighted observations from
Homer to Velikovsky and must be stopped cause they don't tell us anything we haven't
known since before the AD 1.
ED: Why don't they say Earth intersected an old comet path of Mars.
Cause that is what happened in order to have meteorites in the first place.

Originally posted by new_here

Originally posted by consciousgod
I guess these meteorites could be from Mars but there is no conclusive evidence that would say for sure. We don't know what isotopes will be found on other planets except for places we earthlings have been. We haven't been anywhere but the earth, moon, and Mars to test.

Yes, you expanded my thought process here. It might be from Mars, or it might be from another body in the universe with a like makeup of Mars.
Firstly, I was going to say: Wow, so parts of other planets come flying our way? Just didn't know that. What, are these rocks pulled towards the sun but we're in their path? Or some gravitational tug between Earth and Mars as we pass each other? Or just what does cause a rocky planet to fling part of itself away from itself? Does a chunk of Earth occasionally take flight and hit Venus or Mercury? Hmmm...

Mars was hit by something huge millions of years ago, blasting rock into the inner and outer solar system.
They arrive here just like pieces of asteroids.

What do you think all of those Mars probes and rovers have been doing on Mars? They have done extensive geochemistry of martian rock, and therefor, they know they have elemental and isotopic compositions that are similar to rocks and atmosphere gases analyzed by landers. Rocks that form on different planets have unique characteristics that bind them to their origin.

Then, with meteorites from Mars that are already found on on Earth, They have found gas bubbles trapped in these meteorites.

.

NASA: "There seems little likelihood that the SNCs are not from Mars. If they were from another planetary body, it would have to be substantially identical to Mars as it now is understood.

These trapped gases provided direct evidence for a martian origin.

These are the same tests that were done on the new Moroccan meteorite, that provided this news release.

amazing story. 15 pounds is relatively small. wonder how it was "stumbled" upon. agree that it probably should be displayed somewhere for all to see.

just to follow-up, i'd actually like to get my hands on a moon rock! which should be easy after China gets there...wal-mart will be distributing them.