A new mineral, named Tissintite, has been discovered in a meteorite from Mars! This new mineral formed under high pressure during an impact shock event, and is the most vacancy-rich clinopyroxene known. Tissintite may hold new information about impact processes on Mars! The meteorite, Tissint, fell to Earth in Morocco on July 18th, 2011, and…

A new plaque unveiled at the Center for Meteorite Studies commemorates Herbert G. Fales, a steadfast supporter and early contributor to the Center, without whom ASU’s world class meteorite collection may never have come to be. In 1957, Sputnik’s launch put space exploration at the forefront of the American conscience. The following year, Harvey H….

This July, members of the Center for Meteorites Studies will present new findings at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Berkeley, California.  The Center's presentations cover a range of topics in meteoritics and cosmochemistry, including meteorites from Mars, carbonaceous chondrites, meteorite petrology, and processes in the early Solar System. Click on the…

In a new article in the journal Nature Communications, researchers detail their findings of methane in 6 Martian meteorites. According to the authors, "The occurrence of methane in Martian rock samples adds strong weight to models whereby any life on Mars is/was likely to be resident in a subsurface habitat, where methane could be a…

New images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show impact glass within the craters of Mars! As of February, 2015, the MRO has completed 40,000 orbits of the red planet over nine years, and transmitted 247 terabytes of data on the Martian atmosphere, surface, and subsurface.  Researchers have found deposits of impact glass (in green)…