Mars meteorite may fetch USD 160,000 at auction

A rare chunk of a meteorite that chipped from Mars after an asteroid impact and landed in Morocco's Sahara Desert is expected to fetch at least USD 160,000 when it goes under the hammer.
The Martian meteorite NWA 7397 was found in 2012 in Morocco's Sahara Desert. Scientists believe it was part of a chunk of Mars that was chipped from the planet when an asteroid impacted it, Space.Com reported.
At 621 gm, the sample going up for sale is the larger portion of the meteorite that landed on Earth; the rest of that rock was recently bought by a museum, according to Heritage Auctions in US, which is handling the sale.

Meteorites that came from Mars are incredibly rare - less than 136 kg of them in total are known to exist on Earth. They tend to fetch higher prices than other types of meteorites, which usually originate from outer space, and sometimes the Moon.
The NWA 7397 meteorite is going on sale on June 2 as part of a large collection of meteorites, fossils, and insects preserved in amber.
"The specimens in this sale represent some of the finest fossils, meteorites, and natural history items I have had the privilege to handle," Craig Kissick, associate director of nature and science for Heritage Auctions, said.

Some other meteorites on sale in the collection are also expected to fetch high prices. Another meteorite found in the Sahara Desert of Morocco, classified as a chondrite meteorite, should sell for at least USD 15,000, experts say.

At 8.9 kg, that specimen is much larger than the Martian meteorite, and features the largest example of gem-like olivine crystals ever collected, embedded in a silver nickel-ore matrix.
A third space rock, a 7.6 kg muonionalusta iron meteorite, has been carved and polished into a "modern work of art", according to Heritage Auctions, and should bring in at least USD 18,000.

Other prizes going up for auction include a tuft of woolly mammoth wool 16 inches long that dates from the Pleistocene epoch and is expected to fetch USD 400), and a prehistoric specimen of amber (fossilised tree sap) that caught two tiny midges in the act of copulation is estimated at USD 300.