Mars Rock to Be Exhibited at 2025 Osaka Expo

Tokyo, Sept. 17 (Jiji Press)--A rock from Mars, collected by a Japanese Antarctic research expedition in 2000, will be exhibited for the first time at the 2025 World Exposition in the western Japan city of Osaka, the government said Tuesday.

The rock, one of the world's biggest meteorites from Mars, is 29 centimeters long, 22 centimeters wide and 16 centimeters high and weighs about 13 kilograms. It is kept at the National Institute of Polar Research in Tachikawa, western Tokyo.

The institute proved that the meteorite came from Mars by analyzing a noble gas within it. The rock has scientific importance as it contains clay minerals that show there had been water on Mars, the institute said.

At the expo, visitors are expected to be able to see a display of the rock and touch samples of the meteorite.

"I will be very pleased if visitors can have the opportunity to imagine links of life, by touching sample pieces of the precious rock," Naoya Imae, a researcher at the institute who was a member of the expedition that found the rock, told reporters.

Industry minister Ken Saito told a press conference that the rock has a high academic value as it suggests an origin of life, and that the exhibition will link with the expo's theme of "Designing Future Society for Our Lives."
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