Ep. 790: Meteorites From Other Worlds

Astronomy Cast

Natural Sciences, Science, Astronomy

4.8 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Astronomy Cast Ep. 790: Meteorites From Other Worlds By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live April 17, 2026. Even though humanity has returned samples from a fraction of the worlds in the solar system, the cosmos has delivered many more without us having to lift a finger. Meteorites. We have meteorites from the Moon, Vesta and even Mars! What have we learned about these rocks from other worlds? Space missions to other worlds cost millions to billions of dollars, and if we want to know exactly where space rock samples come from, we need to spend the big bucks for sample return. But, if it's good enough to know "this rock came from somewhere on that world," space offers an amazing delivery system in the form of meteorites. Come learn about the search for, identification, and science of meteorites from other worlds. This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast !!! In this episode, we'd like to thank: Andrew Poelstra, Burry Gowen, David, David Rossetter, Ed, Eric Lee, Gerhard Schwarzer, Jason Kwong, Jeanette Wink, Joe McTee, Michael Purcell, Sergey Manouilov, and Siggi Kemmler

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm
0:02.0	Oh Thank you. I'm Astronomycast, Episode 790, Meteorites from other worlds. Welcome to Astronomycast, our weekly fact-based journey through the cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know. I'm Fraser Kane. I'm the publisher of the universe today. With me, as always, is Dr. Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the director of CosmoQuest. Hello, Pamela. Hello, Fraser.
1:12.0	I have a new favorite moment in rule breaking.
1:14.9	Can I share it?
1:16.2	Yes.
1:17.0	So, so astronaut, commander Reed from the Artemis II Integrity capsule was supposed to leave, rise, the little round plushy that they had as a zero GAT indicator.
1:31.8	He was supposed to leave it on board integrity as it floated in the ocean, hopefully to be rescued.
1:38.5	And he couldn't do it.
1:39.7	He couldn't leave behind RISE.
1:42.2	So he stole it.
1:44.2	Right. So, so, knock it out. So he stole it. Right.
1:44.8	So,
1:45.0	so,
1:45.3	knock it out.
1:46.0	So,
1:46.3	so,
1:46.4	so, RISE now is Commander Reads. And he's been just like kind of carrying it around in lots of different. It's, it is my favorite moment. Isn't it supposed to end up at a school, though, at some point? Like, it's going to end up with some, I don't know.
2:00.3	I just know it wasn't left behind on the capsule.
2:02.7	And there are so many adorable photos.
2:07.2	And, yeah.
2:09.5	Man, that mission was so great.
2:12.3	I was just transported to a younger version of me watching, sort of the one that actually felt most
	...

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