Incredibly rare Mars rock sells for £3.2m

A rare Mars meteorite sold for £3.2 million at a New York auction. Weighing 54 pounds, this piece, named NWA 16788, is the largest known Martian material on Earth, constituting about seven percent of all Martian meteorites here.

It was discovered in Niger’s Agadez region in November 2023 after traveling 140 million miles from Mars. Cassandra Hatton from Sotheby’s noted, “The odds of this getting from there to here are astronomically small.”

Only about 400 Martian meteorites have been found. NWA 16788 has unique features, including a reddish-brown fusion crust and glassy material called Maskelynite. The buyer's identity is undisclosed.