Subzero facility for processing and analysis of pristine planetary samples

塔基什湖的瀑布(公元前三年)2000年1月，陨石被广泛宣传到同名湖面上；随后几个月的初步研究表明，这块陨石是一种独特的碳质球粒陨石--一种代表太阳系形成的原始物质的陨石。塔吉什湖是最富碳的碳质球粒陨石，按重量计碳含量高达6%；几乎一半的碳是在星际空间或小行星母体上形成的原始有机分子的形式。这些有机分子很容易被地球表面的分子污染；然而，在陨石科学家的建议下，当地一名居民于2000年1月在没有接触到他的手的情况下采集了原始样本，并将其冷冻，从而提供了有史以来收集到的最原始的碳质球粒陨石样本。由于2006年1月从发现者那里购买了陨石(总成本为843,000美元)，这些陨石现在存放在阿尔伯塔大学和加拿大皇家安大略省博物馆，并安全地冷冻储存。

The fall of the Tagish Lake (B.C.) meteorite onto the frozen surface of the lake of the same name in January of 2000 was widely publicized; its preliminary study in the following months showed that the meteorite is a unique type of carbonaceous chondrite - a type of meteorite that represents the primordial material from which the solar system formed. Tagish Lake is the most carbon-rich carbonaceous chondrite, containing up to 6 % carbon by weight; almost half this amount is in the form of primitive organic molecules that formed in interstellar space or on the asteroid parent body. These organic molecules are easily contaminated by molecules at the Earth's surface; however, on the advice of meteorite scientists, the pristine samples were collected by a local resident in January 2000 without contact from his hands and were kept frozen, thus providing the most pristine sample of a carbonaceous chondrite ever collected. Enabled by a purchase from the finder in January of 2006 (at a total cost of $843,000), the meteorites now reside at the University of Alberta and the Royal Ontario Museum in in secure, frozen storage.