From Oman back to Mars after 450 million years

8kg chunk returns to the Red Planet via Nasa’s Perseverance Rover

The Martian meteorite Sayh Al Uhamer 008 (SaU008) that was found in the Sultanate in the Wilayat of Haima has returned to its original home, Mars.

The return journey of the meteorite was through Nasa’s Perseverance Rover, reports a leading Arabic news site based in Oman. Nasa’s Mars mission has been giving up to date information of the planet and images.

Evidence indicates that Sayh Al Uhamer bears evidence of the geological makeup of Mars, marking it the first meteorite retuned by mankind to its home.

This major scientific event will introduce Oman to rest of the world as the country where the Martian meteorite was found and returned home subsequently as part of a major mission.

Sayh Al Uhamer 008 which weighs more than eight kilos, was formed about 450 million years ago due to a cosmic event resulting from the collision of an asteroid or comet with the planet Mars. The collision resulted in parts of it flying into space before a piece of the grey-greenish meteorite fell on the territory of the Sultanate.

The news site quoted another Twitter handle that indicated that after careful laboratory examination at the Max Planck laboratory in Germany, researchers found evidence that Sayh Al Uhamer 008 dates back to Mars and not Earth. Hence the choice of this particular piece to be taken to Mars to be used as a calibration target.

The report said that the meteorite discovered in the Sultanate was preserved in the Natural History Museum in London. The Museum houses interesting and diverse meteors from different countries of the world and the number of Martian meteorites found on earth is only 424.