Meteorite from Mars.Researchers have identified another meteorite meteorite, meteor that survives the intense heat of atmospheric friction and reaches the earth's surface. Because of the destructive effects of this friction, only the very largest meteors become meteorites. as a piece of Mars. The 12-gram chunk of rock, found in Antarctica's Queen Alexandra Range The Queen Alexandra Range is a major mountain range in Antarctica, about 160 km (100 mi) long, bordering the entire western side of Beardmore Glacier from the Ross Ice Shelf to the Antarctic polar plateau. The highest peak of the range is Mount Kirkpatrick at 4,528 m (14,855 ft). last winter and known as QUE94201, ranks as the 12th meteorite identified as having been chipped off the Red Planet. Researchers base their classification, in part, on the ratio between isotopes of several inert gases inert gases (i·nertˑ gaˑ·s  s),n. found in the rock. That ratio bears a striking similarity to the ratio found in samples of the Martian atmosphere recorded by the Viking spacecraft in the 1970s, notes Linda S. Schramm, manager of the meteorite collection at the Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institution, research and education center, at Washington, D.C.; founded 1846 under terms of the will of James Smithson of London, who in 1829 bequeathed his fortune to the United States to create an establishment for the "increase and diffusion of in Washington, D.C. Roberta Score of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and Brian H. Mason of the Smithsonian Institution reported the find in the August Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter. Such basic information as the age of the rock and the depth of the Martian surface from which it originated await further analysis, Score says. |
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