Scientists Saddened as World's Largest Mars Rock Is Sold at Auction
At roughly 54 pounds, NWA 16788, as it's been dubbed, is by far the largest known rock we have from the Red Planet — the runner up in the category is barely half that weight — and is one of the only 400 meteorites confirmed to be of Martian origin ever found, according to a database maintained by the Meteoritical Society. That such a large portion survived a crash landing on Earth makes it an incredibly valuable object to scientists.
On Wednesday, the rock was bought at an auction at Sotheby's in New York for $5.3 million. It's now the most expensive meteorite ever sold, according to the luxury items broker.
"You get close to it, you can feel like you're looking at the planet," Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby's, told the Washington Post. "This really looks like a piece of Mars, whereas pretty much every other Martian meteorite you see is going to just kind of look like a little rock."
Discovered in November 2023 by a meteorite hunter scouring a remote region of Niger, an analysis determined that NWA 16788 was likely catapulted into space by another, much larger meteor smashing into Mars, according to CNN. The Martian surface is pockmarked with countless scars documenting encounters like these.
Hatton declined to reveal who the buyer of the huge rock was. While we can't say for certain what will happen to it, or what the anonymous buyer's intentions are, some scientists aren't happy with the idea of this ultra-rare space rock being locked away, or even being put up for sale in the first place.
"It would be a shame if it disappeared into the vault of an oligarch. It belongs in a museum, where it can be studied, and where it can be enjoyed by children and families and the public at large," Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, told CNN before the rock was sold.
Meteorites "carry information about the history of the solar system that cannot be learned any other way," Paul Asimow, professor of geology and geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology, told WaPo.
More streetwise scientists argue, however, that this is what it takes to keep the lights on, so to speak.
"Ultimately, if there was no market for searching, collecting and selling meteorites, we would not have anywhere near as many in our collections — and this drives the science!" Julia Cartwright, a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester in England, told CNN.
For scientists whining about losing access to this massive Mars slab, Hatton recommends they consult with the literal crumb of evidence that's been graciously left behind for them to examine, preserved at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China.
"A sample has been taken and analyzed and published in the meteoritical bulletin, so they could go and get that," Hatton told Space.com.
More on Mars: Trump Wants to Shut Down Several Perfectly Good Spacecraft Orbiting Mars for No Reason
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