Meteorite 'Returning to Earth' is Not Implausible - Scientist

A meteorite recently identified as probably the first known piece of terrestrial rock that returned home after being flung into space millennia ago may be a unique occurrence, but it does not contradict the laws of physics, a Russian scientist said.

Meteorite NWA 13188, originally discovered in Africa a few years ago, made headlines earlier this month when a team of scientists voiced their suspicions about this rock originating from our planet.

If the researchers’ theory is to be believed, NWA 13188 was hurled into space some 10,000 years ago when an asteroid collided with Earth, to re-enter its atmosphere after spending up to a few thousand years in space.

Commenting on this development, Natan Eismont, head of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute, told Sputnik that, while this hypothesis does seem plausible, this matter requires further investigation.

“There are no contradictions here, unlike the cases involving some humanoids,” Eismont said, with the latter portion of his remark apparently referring to theories about intelligent alien life in space.

He also recalled the story of the ISEE-3 satellite launched by the US in space back in the 1970s, which spent some time at the libration point L1 about 1.5 million kilometers away from our planet before returning near Earth around 2014.

If an artificial object could return to Earth after spending years in space, then a piece of rock can probably make the same journey as well, the researcher argued.