19-07-2025
An $8 million Mars rock and the science behind it
Sotheby's sold a meteorite from Mars for US$5.3 million last Wednesday to an undisclosed buyer. Sotheby's claims is the largest Martian meteorite in the world, at nearly 25kgs. But for planetary scientist like Professor Gretchen Benedix, the value of Martian meteorites is beyond the imaginations of most private collectors. She shares the science that has been used to analyse meteorites, and the potential discoveries that might be made from access to such a large Martian rock.
Guest: Professor Gretchen Benedix, cosmic mineralogist and astrogeologist at Curtin's Space Science and Technology Centre, and Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research at Curtin University.
