Rare Martian meteorite given to science (BBC)
A Martian meteorite - an incredibly rare object - has been given to science to help unravel the Red Planet's secrets.
The Natural History Museum in London has acquired a 1kg piece of the Tissint rock thanks to an anonymous benefactor.
It was seen to land in Morocco last July and retrieved quickly, resulting in minimal contamination with Earth.
Researchers hope Tissint's geochemistry will provide insights into past conditions on Mars and the possibility that it may once have hosted life.
Just 61 out of the 41,000 meteorites known to science come from Mars. To get here, they would have been blasted off the surface of the Red Planet by a mighty impact and then travelled through the Solar System before crashing to Earth.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16943200
