U.S. Space agency NASA had a unique payload onboard its Perseverance rover that touched down on the Martian surface recently. 'Sayh Al Uhaymir 008', a meteorite fragment from the Red Planet, which found its way to Oman, has been returned onboard the rover, a world-first.
"After detailed chemical examination at the Max Planck laboratory in Germany, researchers found evidence that the meteorite rock 'Sayh Al Uhaymir 008' belonged to Mars." The meteorite fragment weighs more than eight kilograms. It is estimated to have reached Earth 450 million years ago due to a cosmic development involving the collision of an asteroid or comet with the planet Mars.
NASA said: "The meteorite fragment found in the Sultanate was preserved at the Natural History Museum of London, which includes interesting and diverse meteorites from different countries of the world. The number of Martian meteorite fragments found on our mother Earth is around 424 only."
When work on the Perseverance project, scientists suggested using a Martian meteorite found on Earth to help in processing images captured by the rover into their true colours and textures, without being affected by any natural conditions. It was also decided that the Martian meteorite would act directly as a calibration target instead of a piece of metal or coloured pieces with specific colours used for the purpose as usual, NASA said.
Dr. Saud bin Humaid Al Shuaili, head of the National Space Program management team of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology said: "Research centres around the world are always interested in studying meteorites. This is because they are closely related to space science, astronomy, and earth sciences. Therefore, the related research and studies centres of the Sultanate of Oman should also have increased interest in these meteorites. Each meteor has a large amount of information about the solar system. It is a treasure of scientific information for astronomers and geologists."
SOURCE: TIMESOFOMAN