A Maine museum will play host to a chunk of rock it said is the largest intact Mars rock on Earth.

The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum said the specimen weighs 32 pounds (15 kilograms) and is about 10 inches (25 centimeters) at its longest point. The museum said the rock was the result of an asteroid impact on the surface of Mars that ejected material into an Earth-crossing orbit in space.

There are less than 500 pounds (227 kilograms) of Mars rock known to exist on Earth, the museum said.

The rock is known as "Taoudenni 002." The Bethel, Maine, museum said it will include the rock when it opens to the public on Sept. 1.

The museum said it is planning a reception with limited capacity on Aug. 31 to celebrate the acquisition of the rock. Two scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are expected to attend, the museum said.

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A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) experiment was performed aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital rocket today, which launched from Van Horn, Texas. Five variations of the tapered liquid acquisition device (LAD), which is designed to safely deliver liquid propellant to a rocket engine from fuel tanks, were aboard the rocket to evaluate their performance in microgravity.

Blue Origin launched artwork painted on a capsule and a moon-landing navigation experiment into space Thursday, a month after sending founder Jeff Bezos on the company's first passenger flight.

No one was aboard for Thursday's 10-minute flight, which included other experiments from NASA and others.

The paintings by Ghana artist Amoako Boafo were on three parachute panels on the outside of the capsule at the very top. Boafo painted a self-portrait as well as portraits of his mother and a friend's mother, explaining "a mother's love comes from a place that is out of this world," said Blue Origin launch commentator Kiah Erlich, a company official.