Subzero facility for processing and analysis of pristine planetary samples

2000年1月，塔吉什湖（bc）陨石坠落在同名湖的冰冻表面的事件被广泛报道；在接下来的几个月里，它的初步研究表明，这块陨石是一种独特的碳质球粒陨石——这种陨石代表了太阳系形成的原始物质。塔吉什湖是含碳量最高的碳质球粒陨石，含碳量高达6%；其中几乎一半是在星际空间或小行星母体中形成的原始有机分子。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，2000年1月，一位当地居民在没有接触的情况下收集了原始样本，并将其冷冻起来，从而提供了迄今为止收集到的最原始的碳质球粒陨石样本。由于发现者在2006年1月购买了这些陨石（总共花费了84.3万美元），这些陨石现在存放在阿尔伯塔大学和皇家安大略博物馆的安全冷冻库中。

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.