Researchers from Curtin University have recovered a meteorite that is approximately 4.5 billion years old from Lake Eyre in South Australia, according to ABC News. The team of geologists, who had been searching for the fall site of the ancient meteorite since it was spotted back in November, faced a race against time during their excavation and managed to recover the 1.7-kilogram meteorite just hours before a mass of heavy rains would have washed away any traces of it and left their efforts in vein, according to RT.
"[On day three of the search] we were getting more and more depressed thinking, 'ok we're not going to be able to spot this thing' and then [a team member overhead in a plane] said I've seen it, I've seen it," said Phil Bland, who participated in the research effort. "I was running across this mud trying to get to the spot where he yelled out, then they were circling again and we were thinking 'oh no, they've lost it'. We finally saw it and started digging... I basically shredded my hands trying to get it out."
The meteorite was discovered on New Year's Eve and dug out from a 42-centimeter-deep hole that was located in a remote section of Lake Eyre following a three-day operation that utilized an aerial spotter, a drone, two researchers conducting groundwork on a quad bike and local Aboriginal guides.
"It was an amazing team effort, we got there by the skin of our teeth," said Bland. "It is older than the Earth itself. It's the oldest rock you'll ever hold in your hand. It came to us from beyond the orbit of Mars, so in between Mars and Jupiter."
Aerial observation was the most crucial part of the investigation as the site of the meteorite turned out to be greatly deteriorated by rain.
The finding marks the first meteorite that the research team has found since beginning their fireball project one year ago, according to WA Today.
