In 1969, a 100-kilogram meteorite exploded over the town of Murchison, Australia.
The meteorite, now named after the town where it fell, has turned out to be a gold mine of scientific information and has been used for a number of experiments.
The Murchison meteorite was primarily made up of carbonaceous chondrite.
It also contained amino acids, the building blocks of life.
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and simple sugars, such as ketone dihydroxyacetone.
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Recently, other sugars including ribose were also identified in the Murchison meteorite.
These are part of nucleotides, which help to form DNA and RNA.
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Planetologists are saying that this indicates the major role asteroids played in bringing organic molecules to early Earth.
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In analyzing the Murchison meteorite, other scientists from Australia, Switzerland, and the U.S. ground pieces of the meteorite down and dissolved them in acid, in which they found tiny particles of silicon carbide, otherwise known as interstellar presolar grains.
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These are considered to have been formed long before either the Sun or the Earth.
Their age was determined by studying the degree to which cosmic rays had affected the particles.
Upon completing their calculations the scientists involved in the study announced that the particles they analyzed were between 5 and 7 billion years old.
They are the only material we have that is older than the solar system.
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What can these particles tell us?
They can yield information about the process of stellar evolution and conditions in the Milky Way Galaxy before our Sun even appeared.
For one, scientists at the University of Glasgow used pieces of the Murchison meteorite to help work out algorithms to be used in the search for the signatures of extraterrestrial life.
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In another study, pieces of the Murchison meteorite were bombarded with a laser and then subjected to simulated solar wind.
The result was the beginning of a process whereby water could be created, for example at base on the Moon, from ionized molecules in the meteorite.
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This could be applied as we search for life throughout our solar system and beyond.

Warning: these questons and answers are not all representative of the way questions will be asked and answered in the pilot, because some questions are compound and some answers do not include citations.

Q: In what country did the Murchison meteorite make landfall?
A: It fell near the town of Murchison, Australia.

Q: What if any organic compounds were found in the Murchison meteorite?
A: amino acids, ribose and other sugars

Q: The presolar grains in the Murchison meteorite were mostly composed of what?
A: Silicon Carbide.

Q: How old were these grains?
A: They were between 5 and 7 billion years old.

Q: How does the age of the grains compare to that of our Solar System?
A: They are older than the Sun and the Earth.

Q: What did the scientists at Glasgow use their pieces of the meteorite for?
A: to work out algorithms for a system of identifying the signatures of life in the cosmos.

Q: What was the advantage of discovering water molecules in the Murchison meteorite?
A: It could lead to a process for extracting water on the moon or elsewhere in space.

Q: What does the discovery of sugars in the meteorite indicate about the origin of life on Earth?
A: Organic molecules could have been brought to Earth by asteroids.

Q: What other materials do we have that are older then the Solar System
A: We have no older material than the presolar grains.

Q: How heavy was the Murchison meteorite?
A: It weighed 100 kilograms which is 220 lbs.