Martian meteorites are the only direct samples from Mars, thus far. Currently, there are a total of 262 individual samples originating from at least 11 ejection events. Geochemical analyses, through techniques that are also used on terrestrial rocks, provide fundamental insights into the bulk composition, differentiation and evolution, mantle heterogeneity, and role of secondary processes, such as aqueous alteration and shock, on Mars. Martian meteorites display a wide range in mineralogy and chemistry, but are predominantly basaltic in composition. Over the past 6 years, the number of martian meteorites recovered has almost doubled allowing for studies that evaluate these meteorites as suites of igneous rocks. However, the martian meteorites represent a biased sampling of the surface of Mars with unknown ejection locations. The geology of Mars cannot be unraveled solely by analyzing these meteorites. Rocks analyzed by rovers on the surface of Mars are of distinct composition to the meteorites, highlighting the importance of Mars missions, especially sample return. The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will collect and cache—for eventual return to Earth—over 30 diverse surface samples from Jezero crater. These returned samples will allow for Earth‐based state‐of‐the‐art analyses on diverse martian rocks with known field context. The complementary study of returned samples and meteorites will help to constrain the evolution of the martian interior and surface. Here, we review recent findings and advances in the study of martian meteorites and examine how returned samples would complement and enhance our knowledge of Mars.

中文翻译：

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火星陨石对火星内部和表面的揭示

到目前为止，火星陨石是火星唯一的直接样本。当前，总共有262个独立样本来自至少11个喷射事件。地球化学分析还通过在陆地岩石上使用的技术，对火星的整体组成，分化和演化，地幔非均质性以及次要过程（例如水蚀和冲击）的作用提供了基本的见识。火星陨石在矿物学和化学上显示出广泛的范围，但在组成上主要是玄武岩。在过去的6年中，回收的火星陨石数量几乎翻了一番，这使得进行将这些陨石评估为火成岩组的研究成为可能。但是，火星陨石代表着具有未知喷射位置的火星表面的有偏采样。不能仅通过分析这些陨石来揭示火星的地质情况。火星表面流动探测器分析出的岩石具有与陨石截然不同的成分，突出了火星任务的重要性，尤其是样品返回的重要性。2020年火星恒心漫游者将收集并缓存来自Jezero陨石坑的30多种表面样本，以最终返回地球。这些返回的样本将允许在已知场域背景下，对各种火星岩石进行基于地球的最新技术分析。对返回的样品和陨石的补充研究将有助于限制火星内部和表面的演化。在这里，我们回顾了火星陨石研究的最新发现和进展，并研究了返回的样本如何补充和增强我们对火星的了解。