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Mike:

I am sure this has been a frustrating experience. As you know,

scientists are skeptics and don't accept anything new until it is proven

to them. I have seen nothing in your data to suggest that this stone is

really a meteorite, much less a martian meteorite, so most people would

be hesitant to spend a great deal of time and money on a test that would

be definitive (for example, oxygen isotopes or cosmogenic nuclides).

The "easy" test, which would get your idea enough credibility to justify

the more definitive tests, would be to examine the rock

petrographically. For that, you need a thin section (preferably with a

little bit of fusion crust from the outside of the stone). If

petrographic observation warrants, then maybe a few electron microprobe

analyses. I am happy to do the petrographic examination for you, if you

will have a thin section made (probably costs about $25). Here's a

couple of vendors:

Spectrum Petrographics

291 West 11000 South

South Jordan, Utah 84065

801-571-2476

Mineral Optics laboratory

P.O. Box 828

29 "A" Street

Wilder, VT 05088

802-295-9373

Please understand, if you decide to do this, that you might not be

satisfied with the test. Not all rocks on Mars are likely to look like

SNCs or Pathfinder rocks. However, that is all we have to go on. I can

tell you whether the rock has any characteristics that might be

consistent with a martian origin, as we understand it, but that's all.

I will be out of town for most of July, but I can take a good look at

this in August if you want to pursue it further.

Regards, Hap

Harry Y. McSween, Jr.

Department of Geological Sciences

University of Tennessee

Knoxville, TN 37996-1410

tel. (423) 974-9805

fax. (423) 974-2368