The island continent is in many ways a lodestar of meteorite research. It’s produced some of the most spectacular discoveries around the world. Of these, the Murchison meteorite stands out in its uniqueness and historical importance.
The Murchison meteorite, which fell in 1969. It has become renowned for holding some of the very first minerals precipitated out since the formation of our solar system. These meteorites contain amino acids, which are the very building blocks of life. As such, it becomes a fascinating object of study for scientists who are probing the early origins of life on Earth. Additionally, it contains “stardust” created in exploding stars billions of years before the sun’s formation, offering insights into cosmic events long before humanity’s existence.
Australia’s wide open deserts and arid landscape make it a perfect place for finding and recovering meteorites. The stark, dry landscape—especially the Nullarbor Plain—is just about the best natural environment for preserving meteorites to be found anywhere. Indeed, over half of Australia’s known meteorites have been found in this region. This region’s high desert landscape provides ideal conditions for scientists to retrieve important meteorites that would otherwise be lost to erosion or vegetation growth.
Meteorites adventure is frequently heralded as one of the low-cost routes to space exploration. Every year, hundreds of meteorites should fall to Earth, but the majority fall where they can’t be seen – typically in oceans or remote wilderness areas. The Desert Fireball Network is in the business of tracking meteors through Australian skies and its rich data has opened up numerous avenues for future research.
The study of lunar geology through meteorites has brought about several key scientific and technological advancements that the scientific community has made. Scientists currently have more than five times as much lunar material delivered by meteorites as was collected on the Apollo missions. These extraterrestrial samples provide insights into lunar regions that astronauts never accessed, deepening our understanding of the moon’s composition and history.
Similarly, at the federal level, Australia strictly controls the export of meteorites. You have to get special permits for each and every transfer. Laws related to ownership vary by state and territory. This means that there is no one single national regulatory provision to handle meteorites legally throughout the country.