The largest sample of Mars on Earth studied by Unifi researchers

It is called NWA 16788, a 24.67 kg meteorite found in Niger, in the Sahara desert, in 2023. It is the largest sample from Mars existing on Earth and it was ejected from the red planet after an impact with a huge asteroid: it traveled 140 million kilometers through space and crossed the Earth's atmosphere before crashing into the African desert in the Agadez region.

Purchased by a prominent Italian gallery owner, it was entrusted to the research group led by Giovanni Pratesi, professor of Mineralogy at the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Florence, to be examined and studied in order to better understand its nature and genetic process.

The history of the largest Martian meteorite is now coming to light since the precious specimen will be auctioned today in New York by a major auction house.