Expanding the Foundation of Planetary Science

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Our understanding of the Solar System is based on a foundation of meteorite analyses. Knowing their orbital origin provides a critical spatial context, but we have this data for <0.1% of samples. This project aims to address this issue. There are 66 meteorite falls across Australia with orbits determined by the Desert Fireball Network that await recovery - more than the current global dataset. This project expects to generate new knowledge by applying an innovative search methodology using drones and machine learning. Expected outcomes include dramatically increasing the number of orbital meteorites. This should provide significant benefits. By linking meteorites to their parent asteroids every rock becomes a small sample-return mission.