The Martian landscape looks strikingly similar to the deserts of Earth, but billions of years ago, water flowed in abundance on Mars, carving huge canyons, while immense volcanoes erupted mountains of lava. These high-altitude, volcanic regions are occasionally impacted by passing comets or asteroids that can dislodge pieces of rock. These rocks can sometimes make a collision course for Earth.

Their journey to Earth is only made possible due to Mars's gravity being just one-third that of ours, and its atmosphere being 125 times thinner, making it easier for ejected rocks to leave the planet. These rocks then have to survive a journey through interplanetary space. As of September 2020, only 277 meteorites have been classified as Martian, 0.5% of the 72,000 meteorites that are currently catalogued. 

In September 2021, a slice of NWA 2737, weighing 611 grams sold at Christie’s Deep Impact auction for $13,370, smashing its pre-auction estimate of $3,000 - $4,000.