Photo Gallery: Images of Martian Meteorites

Marvelous Mars meteorites

Allan Hills, Mars life

(Image credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center's Meteorite Processing Laboratory)

Less than 1 percent of meteorites found on Earth come from Mars. About 60 have been found. These rare rocks tell us what the Red Planet was like billion of years ago.

Tissint meteorite

tissint mars meteorite 2

(Image credit: © 2011 Darryl Pitt / Macovich Collection)

A sample from the Tissint meteorite, which dropped from the sky in Morocco at 2 a.m. local time on July 18, 2011. Several large and small chunks of the meteorite fell in a shower that morning, giving scientists plenty of material to study from the 600-million-year-old rock, according to NASA.

Tissint fragment

This 1.6-ounce (46-gram) meteorite, a part of the Tissint meteorite that landed in Morocco in July 2011, fetched $43,750 at a public auction on May 20.

(Image credit: Heritage Auctions)

This fragment of the Tissint meteorite, which fell in Morocco in 2011, was auctioned off for $43,750. The 1.6-ounce (46-gram) rock, like others in the Tissint meteor shower, was likely ejected from Mars some 1.1 million years ago, scientists estimate.

Meteorite ALH84001

This infamous rock from Mars sparked years of controversy when researchers said the 3.9-billion-year-old rock held signs of life. Others say there's no evidence for biological activity in the meteorite.

Meteorite NWA 7034

NWA 7034 Martian Meteorites

(Image credit: Carl Agee)

A martian meteorite found in the Sahara Desert and nicknamed "Black Beauty." The rock contains the most water of any Martian meteorite yet found.

Black Beauty

NWA 7034 Trio Black Beauty

(Image credit: Carl Agee)

Another shot of the Black Beauty meteorite, also called NWA 7034, for its discovery in Northwest Africa.

In private hands

Meteorite Sample from Mars Auction June 2, 2013

(Image credit: Heritage Auctions)

A martian meteorite sold at auction in June 2013.

Mars lava

Hardened Lava from Mars

(Image credit: AMNH/D. Finnin)

This rock is lava that erupted on Mars and was blasted off the planet by an impact. It drifted through space and eventually fell to Earth.

Becky Oskin
Contributing Writer
Becky Oskin covers Earth science, climate change and space, as well as general science topics. Becky was a science reporter at Live Science and The Pasadena Star-News; she has freelanced for New Scientist and the American Institute of Physics. She earned a master's degree in geology from Caltech, a bachelor's degree from Washington State University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.