Expanding the Foundation of Planetary Science

我们对太阳系的了解是建立在陨石分析的基础上的。知道它们的轨道起源提供了一个关键的空间背景，但我们只有不到0.1%的样本的数据。这个项目旨在解决这个问题。在澳大利亚，有66颗陨落的陨石，它们的轨道由沙漠火球网络确定，等待恢复——比目前的全球数据集还要多。该项目希望通过使用无人机和机器学习应用创新的搜索方法来产生新的知识。预期的结果包括轨道陨石数量的显著增加。这应该会带来显著的好处。通过将陨石与它们的母小行星联系起来，每一块岩石都成为一个小型的样本返回任务。

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.