Science fiction gets a new home this week on planetary radio. Secretary Radio.

Hello everyone and welcome back. I'm Matt Kaplan.

Pardon us as we stray from our usual realm of science fact. You may remember her as the head of

Mars programs at JPL, but Donna Shirley is now the director of the new Science Fiction

Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle.

And wow, does she have a lot of cool stuff to show off?

Later Bruce Betts has a Venus Transit wrap-up and a new trivia contest.

First though, here's Emily with a Q&A about rocks that aren't just rocks.

I'll be right back.

Hi, I'm Emily Loch Duwala with questions and answers. A listener asked, what percentage of meteorites found on Earth contain organic compounds or amino acids.

What does this say about the population of asteroids in the whole solar system?

Traces of organic compounds, materials made of complicated carbon-based molecules, have been found in a certain type of meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites.

Carbonaceous chondrites make up about 5% of all meteorites found here on Earth.

The organic materials in these meteorites found here on Earth. The organic materials in these meteorites

formed when the solar system itself was condensing from its original cloud of gas and dust.

This environment contained abundant hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and dust.

With the help of a little ammonia, these substances can react to make amino acids,

the building blocks of all Earth life forms.

But do the chance finds of meteorites on Earth have much to do with what's out there in space?

Stay tuned to planetary radio to find out.

There must be a handful of space scientists and engineers who weren't inspired by reading science fiction when they were kids, but only a handful.

Of course, there are also millions of us in other professions around the world who are lifelong

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