New Martian Meteorite Found in Antarctica

Antartica's frozen expanse holds many well-preserved meteorites.

July 22, 2004

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A meteorite from Mars has been discovered in Antarctica, one of only about 30 known martian space rocks on Earth.

"We've gotten something like 13,000 meteorites from Antarctica and this is only the sixth one from Mars," Timothy McCoy, curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian Institution, said by telephone on Wednesday.

The rest of the known martian meteorites on this planet were found outside Antarctica, McCoy said by telephone.

What makes this rock special is its comparatively large size, he said: "It's a 700 gram rock (about 1.5 pounds) but by meteorite standards it's a mountain of material."

Scientists can do effective work on amounts as little as one-thousandth of a gram, McCoy said.

At this point, there is no suggestion that the new meteorite -- discovered December 15, 2003, on an ice field some 466 miles (750 km) from the South Pole -- bears any evidence of possible microscopic fossilized life.

Some scientists believe an earlier meteorite found in Antarctica and publicly unveiled in 1996 bore such signs; it is still being investigated.

The new martian meteorite was found as part of a cooperative effort funded by NASA and supported by the National Science Foundation.

Smithsonian scientists said they can establish the origin of the martian meteorites by their mineralogy, texture and oxidized nature.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/07/22/space.meteorite.reut/index.html