REAL Mars rock for sale! Hassi Messaoud 001 is a Martian meteorite recovered in Algeria in 2020! Martian meteorites are rocks ejected into space by major asteroid impacts on Mars. Some of this debris was captured by the gravitational pull of the Earth during our rotation around the Sun.

If being from Mars wasn't cool enough, this is something extra special - Nakhlite! The material was formed from basaltic magma about 1.3 billion years ago and contains augite and olivine crystals. Based on current knowledge of Martian geology, it is believed they are from the large volcanic constructs of either Tharsis, Elysium, or Syrtis Major Planum.

"A 2017 study dated them to at least four different eruptions from 1416 ± 7 Ma to 1322 ± 10 Ma.[2] It has been shown that the nakhlites were suffused with liquid water around 620 million years ago and that they were ejected from Mars around 10.75 million years ago by an asteroid impact. They fell to Earth within the last 10,000 years"

The meteorite was originally found on March 11, 2020, near the town of El Borma and later acquired in 2021 by Matthew Stream from Aziz Zad. The scientific analysis was published in Gattacceca J., McCubbin F.M., Grossman J., Bouvier A., Chabot N.L., D'Orazio M., Goodrich C., Greshake A., Gross J., Komatsu M., Miao B., and Schrader D. (2022) The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 110. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 1-4.

This Martian material had fragmented into smaller pieces during entry of Earth's atmosphere, and these are some of those fragments.

This frame measures 4"X3" and can be shipped worldwide! The photos are representative of the variety you will receive.

SCIENTIFIC DATA VIA METEORITIC SOCIETY:

Physical characteristics: Specimen is grayish-brown and displays a slightly weathered, minor fusion crust.

Petrography: (D. Sheikh, FSU) Specimen displays a cumulate texture (~1.1 mm grainsize) consisting primarily of compositionally zoned, prismatic or blocky (sometimes twinned) augite (displaying Fs-rich rims), ferroan olivine, and plagioclase; modal abundances: 75% augite, 15% plagioclase, 5% olivine. Accessory phases (modal abundance: 5%) are primarily found either in the mesostasis or within melt inclusions in augite or olivine grains; these phases include ferropigeonite, low-ca pyroxene, titanomagnetite, Si-Al-Na-Fe-K-rich glass, and fluorapatite.

Geochemistry: Olivine (Fa73.3±1.0, range Fa72.6-74.5, Fe/Mn = 50±1, n=3), Augite (Fs30.1±4.7Wo38.4±1.4, range Fs22.8-37.9Wo34.9-40.3, Fe/Mn = 32±4, n=47), Pigeonite (Fs58.6±4.9 Wo9.9±3.8, range Fs53.3-62.9 Wo6.6-14.0, Fe/Mn = 31±2, n=5), Low-Ca Pyroxene (Fs64.5±4.1Wo3.1±0.9, range Fs61.1-70.2Wo3.0-5.3, Fe/Mn = 35±2, n=8), Plagioclase (An37.2±1.3Or2.9±0.5, range An35.3-39.4Or2.0-4.0, n=27).

Classification: Martian (nakhlite). Sample is a Martian meteorite due to the Fe/Mn ratios of olivine and pyroxene, and due to the plagioclase composition. Sample is a nakhlite due to the high modal abundance of augite and cumulate texture observed.