It consists of two stones of 0.4526 and 0.2454 kg mass. Since that time, these pieces of Mars have been sitting in boxes in the backyard of Bob Verish in LA until he decided to clean up the yard in October last year. The rocks were subsequently identifed as Martian by UCLA petrologists. Assuming the two Mars meteorites found in the Sahara Desert are paired, and the two new Los Angeles rocks are also paired, then the number of unique Mars meteorites is currently at 14. NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter has detected possible evidence of ancient oceans lying in the northern lowlands of Mars.
Evidence comes from precise measurements of supposed shorelines.
NASA's Mars Polar Lander landed in the south polar region on Dec 3, 1999. However, NASA has not achieved radio contact with the lander and little hope remains. There were also two piggyback, technology-demonstration Microprobes that failed. Work also continues on the Beagle 2 lander. NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter arrived at Mars.