Laayoune 002 Lunar Meteorite End Cut, Feldspathic Breccia, 24.00g, Polished Moon Rock

About this specimen

This is a 24.00 g end cut of Laayoune 002, a lunar feldspathic breccia recovered in Western Sahara. The Meteoritical Bulletin Database records the recommended classification as Lunar (feldsp. breccia), the find as January 2022, and the country as Western Sahara. The name was approved on 19 March 2022 and the meteorite was published in Meteoritical Bulletin 111.

An end cut is the outermost piece taken from a stone: one face is sawn and polished, and the other side keeps the natural exterior of the meteorite. That gives this specimen two distinct views in one piece, the clast population of the lunar breccia on the cut face and the weathered outer surface the stone carried when it was found.

Structure and features

The cut face is polished and shows a dense breccia texture. Angular clasts in gray, gray blue, buff and orange brown tones sit in a darker groundmass, with a few pale, near white clasts standing out at larger size. Several dark red brown clasts cluster near the center of the face. A network of fine pale veining branches across the whole surface and outlines many of the clasts. Under raking light, faint parallel finishing lines can be seen near the upper edge of the polished face. The macro photographs above are of this specimen and show the texture at working distance.

The reverse is uncut and retains the natural exterior of the stone. It is smoothed and rounded, gray to brown in color, with low relief, shallow hollows and scattered small reddish brown grains. The Bulletin writeup records that both recovered stones lack fusion crust, so this surface is the weathered exterior of the meteorite, not a melted entry crust. The edge profile photograph shows the relationship between the two sides.

The published petrography, carried out by A. Irving at the University of Washington and P. Carpenter at Washington University in St. Louis, records a breccia composed of mineral clasts of anorthite, olivine, orthopyroxene, pigeonite and augite, with accessory ilmenite and chromite of variable titanium content and minor secondary barite. The anorthite is highly calcic, at An96.1 to An97.7. The Bulletin records the shock stage as low and the weathering grade as low.

Discovery and provenance

The Bulletin writeup records that the meteorite was found near Laayoune in January 2022 and purchased from the finder by Aziz Habibi. Two stones were recovered, of 3,680 g and 1,468 g, for a total known weight of 5.15 kg. Recorded coordinates are 27.070 degrees N, 13.202 degrees W, in Saguia el Hamra, Western Sahara. The place of purchase is recorded as Agadir and the work name as AH 709, submitted by A. Irving.

The type specimen is a 20.7 g polished end cut held at the University of Washington, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. The Bulletin records the main mass as held by A. Habibi.

This specimen comes from the same lot as our 116.40 g Laayoune 002 end cut. It was acquired by Treasure Coast Meteorite Co., carries serial TC-00054, and has a permanent specimen record page on this site.

Scientific context

Feldspathic breccias sample the lunar highlands, the light colored anorthositic crust that covers most of the Moon and forms the pale regions visible from Earth without a telescope. That crust is understood to have formed when plagioclase crystallized and floated to the top of a global magma ocean early in lunar history. Highly calcic anorthite, like the An96.1 to An97.7 recorded for this meteorite, is characteristic of that highlands crust.

A breccia is rock assembled from fragments of older rock and welded together by impact. Each clast on this face was a separate piece of lunar crust before the impact that bound them, which is why a polished face on this material shows so much variety in a small area. Lunar origin itself is established in the laboratory: the Bulletin entry records FeO/MnO ratios of 94 to 98 in olivine and 53 to 64 in the pyroxenes, values used to distinguish lunar material from other meteorite groups.

Feldspathic breccias are the most common lunar meteorite type. As of November 2026 the Meteoritical Bulletin lists Laayoune 002 as 1 of 372 approved meteorites classified as Lunar (feldsp. breccia). That is a count of database entries, and some of those entries are paired fragments of the same fall recorded under separate names. How lunar material leaves the Moon and reaches Earth is set out in what is a lunar meteorite, and the shape of the wider lunar population is covered in the largest lunar meteorites.

Frequently asked questions

Is this actually material from the Moon?
Yes. Laayoune 002 is a formally classified lunar meteorite with an entry in the Meteoritical Bulletin Database, published in Meteoritical Bulletin 111 and classified by A. Irving and P. Carpenter. Lunar identification rests on mineral chemistry recorded in the Bulletin entry, including the FeO/MnO ratios of olivine and pyroxene, rather than on appearance.

Why is there no fusion crust?
The Bulletin writeup records that both recovered stones lack fusion crust. Crust is thin and is among the first features lost to terrestrial weathering and to abrasion on a desert surface. Its absence says nothing about authenticity, which rests on the laboratory classification.

What is the white veining on the cut face?
It has not been analyzed on this specimen, so we do not identify it. The Bulletin petrography records minor secondary barite in this meteorite. Secondary minerals in desert finds are generally deposited in cracks during the time a meteorite spends on Earth, so the veining should not be read as a lunar feature without analysis. The pale clasts are a different matter: the published petrography records anorthite, the calcic plagioclase feldspar that makes up the lunar highlands crust.

Was Laayoune 002 seen to fall?
No. The Bulletin database records it as a find, with a find date of January 2022.

Is it legal to own a piece of the Moon?
Yes. Lunar meteorites arrived on Earth naturally and can be bought and sold where the source country permits export. Material returned by the Apollo missions is United States government property and cannot be privately owned. This is covered in can you legally buy a moon rock.

What comes with it?
The specimen ships in a black display box with a signed certificate of authenticity from Brian McDonald, IMCA #3323. It also has serial TC-00054 and a permanent specimen record page on this site giving the identification and classification data, the recorded weight, and photographs of this specimen.

Collector significance

At 24.00 g this end cut is a substantial piece of lunar material, and the end cut form puts both sides of the meteorite in one specimen: a polished face showing the highlands breccia inside, and the natural exterior that faced the desert. It comes from the same lot as our 116.40 g end cut.

The material also carries a full published record. The classification, petrography, mineral chemistry, find coordinates, the two recovered masses and the location of the type specimen are all in the Bulletin and can be checked against this listing line by line. Further lunar material is listed in the lunar meteorite collection.

Offered by Treasure Coast Meteorite Co., IMCA Member #3323, Hobe Sound, Florida. Classification data on this page is reproduced from the Meteoritical Bulletin Database entry for Laayoune 002 and from Meteoritical Bulletin 111, doi:10.1111/maps.13995, maintained by the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society and hosted by the Lunar and Planetary Institute. How that database works is explained in understanding the Meteoritical Bulletin.