-- BEGIN included message
- To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
- Subject: Nakhla SNC (Mars)
- From: MARSROX@aol.com
- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 12:22:15 EDT
I have just been informed by Monica Grady, the Curator of the meteorite collection at the British Natural History Museum, of the results of her planned donation of a Nakhla specimen to the scientific community. Stone 1913.25, (640.8 grams, totally fusion crusted) presumably one of three stones given by the Egyptians in 1913, was broken in two at the Johnson Space Center on March 12. ("Broken" is likely the accurate word here as Nakhla is quite friable. It takes a true artist to create a thin section of this material.) About 300 grams was returned to the museum. The rest is scheduled for distribution to 37 groups of researchers over the next few months. Previously, Monica had written to me that her main reason for the donation of this rare material from the museum's collection is to again look for fossilized Martian life forms as has been thoroughly but inconclusively done to ALH84001. She's hoping that the fusion crust on this specimen has minimized terrestrial contamination of the now freshly cut interior. Nakhla is composed of about 2.5% iddingsite, a sedimentary product of water reacting with olivine. So the question is- when Nakhla got wet, did anything go swimming? Best regards to all, Kevin Kichinka
-- END included message