How a ‘mudball’ meteorite survived space to land in the jungles of Central America

Photo caption: A 146-gram fragment of the Aguas Zarcas meteorite fall. Photo credit: Arizona State University / SETI Institute. Article by Keith Cooper. Space.com – April 3, 2025. Research article: Meteoritics & Planetary Science.

The pieces of a meteorite that fell in Costa Rica in 2019 are so unusual that scientists believe it had moved through space relatively unscathed — that is, until it encountered our planet. This is in stark contrast to other typical meteorites that show the wounds of having been in numerous collisions before reaching Earth. The meteorites were recovered from near the Costa Rican town of Aguas Zarcas, and are of a type referred to as ‘mudballs’, in the sense that they contain water-rich minerals. […]

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