An incredibly old Martian relic will soon be headed back from the planet where it originated thanks to the Mars 2020 mission. The space agency is planning on taking a piece of the meteorite known as Sayh al Uhaymir (SaU008) and including it in their highly-anticipated rover adventure to the Red Planet.
The rock, which was part of a larger meteorite discovery back in 1999, is thought to have originated on Mars. A chunk of the planet is believed to have been blown off into space by an impact, and the debris found its way to Earth. Now it will play a vital role is helping to calibrate the scientific tools on board the all-new rover.