Sure, NASA has sent landers and even rovers to Mars to investigate on our behalf, but this remote robotic inquiry won’t ever beat the hands-on, do-it-yourself approach geologists take here on Earth. That’s why a few dozen meteorites found on Earth are so precious to planetary scientists. The forces of nature and the solar system have dropped these pieces of Mars into our laps for scientists to study with their own eyes and hands in their very own laboratories.
Martian meteorites are classified into three groups (named for the first three martian meteorites identified): shergottites, nakhlites, and chassignites. Collectively known as SNC meteorites, these Mars rocks give small glimpses of what regions of the planet were like when the specimens were blasted from the martian surface.
Some of the martian meteorites had witnesses that saw them fall from the sky as bright meteors. Others have been found serendipitously as odd-looking or out-of-place rocks. Recently, many have been found during organized meteorite hunts, such as those to Antarctica where the foreign rocks stand out well against the ice.
Listed below are the martian meteorites scientists have identified so far. Some individual rocks, thought to be pieces of the same meteoroid, are grouped together.
Chassigny
Location: France
Date: October 3, 1815
Find/Fall: Fall
Classification: Chassignite
Location: India
Date: August 25, 1865
Find/Fall: Fall
Classification: Shergottite
Nakhla
Location: Egypt
Date: June 28, 1911
Find/Fall: Fall
Classification: Nakhlite
Lafayette
Location: United States (Indiana)
Date: 1931
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Nakhlite
Governador Valadares
Location: Brazil
Date: 1958
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Nakhlite
Zagami
Location: Nigeria
Date: October 3, 1962
Find/Fall: Fall
Classification: Shergottite
ALHA 77005
Location: Antarctica (Allan Hills)
Date: December 29, 1977
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
Yamato 793605
Location: Antarctica
Date: 1979
Find/Fall: Fall
Classification: Shergottite
EETA 79001
Location: Antarctica (Elephant Moraine)
Date: January 13, 1980
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
Location: Antarctica (Allan Hills)
Date: December 27, 1984
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: SNC (doesn’t fit into one category)
LEW 88516
Location: Antarctica (Lewis Cliff)
Date: December 22, 1988
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
QUE 94201
Location: Antarctica (Queen Alexandra Range)
Date: December 16, 1994
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
DAG 476, 489, 735, 670, 876, 975
Location: Libya (Dar al Gani)
Date: 1996-1999
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
Los Angeles
Location: United States (California)
Date: 1999
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
SaU 005, 008, 051, 094, 060, 090, 120, 150
Location: Oman (Sayh al Uhaymir)
Date: 1999-2002
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
Dhofar 019
Location: Oman
Date: January 24, 2000
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
GRV 99027
Location: Antarctica (Grove Mountains)
Date: February 8, 2000
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
Dhofar 378
Location: Oman
Date: June 17, 2000
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
NWA 480, 1460
Location: Morocco (Northwest Africa)
Date: 2000-2001
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
Y000593, Y000749, Y000802
Location: Antarctica (Yamato Mountains)
Date: 2000
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Nakhlite
NWA 817
Location: Morocco (Northwest Africa)
Date: December 2000
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Nakhlite
NWA 1669
Location: Morocco (Northwest Africa)
Date: January 2001
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
NWA 856
Location: Morocco (Northwest Africa)
Date: March 2001
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
NWA 1068, 1110, 1183, 1775
Location: Morocco (Northwest Africa)
Date: January 2001-2002
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
NWA 998
Location: Morocco or Algeria (Northwest Africa)
Date: September 2001
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Nakhlite
NWA 1195
Location: Morocco (Northwest Africa)
Date: March 2002
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
YA1075
Location: Antarctica (Yamato Mountains?)
Date: ?
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
Yamato 980459
Location: Antarctica (Yamato Mountains)
Date: 1998 or 1999
Find/Fall: Find
Classification: Shergottite
To learn more about these meteorites, visit the Mars meteorite page at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
