A Rare Piece of Mars Just Sold for $5.3 Million at Auction
If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a piece of another planet, now’s your chance—assuming you have a few million dollars to spare. A meteorite from Mars recently sold for a record-breaking $5.3 million at a Sotheby’s auction, making it the most expensive space rock ever purchased.
The meteorite, known as NWA 16788, was discovered in 2023 in the Sahara Desert in Niger. Martian meteorites are exceptionally rare—only about 400 out of the 77,000+ officially recognized meteorites on Earth come from Mars. For a piece of Mars to reach us, an asteroid must first strike the planet hard enough to eject material into space. Sotheby’s notes that only 19 known Martian craters are large enough to have launched such a fragment. From there, the rock had to travel roughly 140 million miles before landing on Earth.
This particular meteorite is special not just for its origin but also for its size. Measuring 14.75 x 11 x 6 inches and weighing over 54 pounds, it’s about 70% larger than the second-biggest Martian meteorite ever found. In fact, it makes up about 6.5% of all known Martian material on Earth.
Before the auction, Sotheby’s sent a small sample to a lab for verification. Tests confirmed its Martian composition, including maskelynite—a type of glass formed by the intense impact of an asteroid hitting Mars. The reddish-brown, weathered exterior of the meteorite even resembles the surface of the Red Planet in miniature.
The winning bid was $4.3 million, but after fees, the final price climbed to $5.3 million. For the right collector, owning a literal piece of another world is clearly worth the cost. While most of us won’t be dropping millions on space rocks anytime soon, it’s fascinating to know that fragments of Mars are out there—waiting to be found, studied, or even auctioned off to the highest bidder.
