Mars meteorite sets record price, shocks science

Meteorite NWA 16788 from Mars has just been auctioned for a record price, becoming a phenomenon among space researchers and global collectors.

A 25kg meteorite, discovered in the Sahara Desert in November 2023, sold for more than $5.3m at a Sotheby's auction in New York. Photo: The Guardian.

NWA 16788 was determined to have been ejected from the surface of Mars after a massive collision, flying more than 225 million km before falling to Earth. Photo: CNN.

This meteorite is exceptionally large, accounting for nearly 7% of the total mass of Martian rocks ever collected by humans, and is 1.7 times heavier than the second largest. Photo: wikimedia.

Only about 400 of the more than 77,000 meteorites on Earth have been confirmed to have originated from Mars, according to data from Sotheby's. Photo: robbreport.com.

NWA 16788 has a glassy outer shell due to frictional burning as it passes through the atmosphere, measuring 38x28x15cm. Photo: Renascença.

Analysis of the sample showed that it was an olivine-micro gabbroic shergottite volcanic rock, containing olivine and pyroxene, which matched data from the 1976 Viking ship. Photo: The Times of Israel.

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