Beagle 2 is being designed by an international consortium led by the Open University's Professor Colin Pillinger, and a full-scale model of the lander vehicle will be on display at Monday's media conference. If confirmed, this would bring the total number of Mars meteorites to 13. The last recovery of a Mars meteorite was QUE 94201 from the Antarctic in 1994, and the last recovery of a Mars meteorite outside of the Antarctic was from Zagami, Nigeria in 1962. The new Mars meteorite weighs about 2kg and is owned by a private collector, who was not identified. The Sahara meteorite has been tentatively classified as a shergotite, the most common type of Mars meteorite.
Detailed analysis is currently underway by European scientists.
Current news and updates on the meteorite will be maintained on my Mars Meteorite home page .