* Astronomy

Canada's cutting-edge meteorite research may soon be on the rocks

Rocks do fall from the sky, and Canada's meteorite experts have built themselves into a world power in the specialised field of studying them.
Claire Samson is one of these people, a professor of earth sciences at Carleton University. She and others are preparing for the time, coming soon, when major space powers will send robot probes to asteroids or Mars and return with samples of rocks from there.
When that happens, Canada is positioned to be at the forefront of analysing these relics of the early solar system, based on homegrown techniques and ingenuity.
However, funding for research tools and instruments from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) will end next fall, a victim of budget cuts.
And Richard Herd worries that support for this work is failing just as Canadian expertise reaches its peak.
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