Nakhla is a 1300 million year old martian meteorite, the first one in which carbonates were identified. Nakhla fell as a shower of stones in 1911; several of the stones are in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London.
One completely fusion-crusted stone has been kept unbroken since its acquisition in 1913.
The Natural History Museum is now prepared to offer samples of this stone to scientists for appropriate analyses. The Antarctic Meteorite Processing Group has kindly agreed to allow the stone to be broken and sub-divided at the Curatorial Facility at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, prior to the LPSC in March.
There is no formal deadline for sample requests, but the material available is limited. Co-ordinated approaches from groups of scientists undertaking complementary studies are encouraged. Those requests submitted to the Museum by April 3 will be processed in April. Those arriving later will be delayed for several months.
For further details and to submit requests, contact: