Plot Synopsis

For thousands of years meteorites have slammed into the earth's surface, each one carrying an invaluable record of the very beginnings of the solar system. But finding meteorites -- some buried over centuries by thick layers of dirt and sediment -- is no easy task. Partners Geoffrey Notkin, science writer and owner of Aerolite Meteorites, and world-famous meteorite-hunter Steve Arnold search for alien treasures, revealing these lost pieces of our universe for the first time. In this series, Notkin and Arnold primarily investigate sites at the Brenham strewnfield in Kiowa County, Kansas, in addition to a top secret location where they have been working for the past couple of years. With three 4WD trucks, two ATVs, two giant metal detectors and enough other assorted hunting equipment to keep a small army occupied, they covered hundreds of acres of ground -- plowed fields, forests, rolling hillsides, abandoned farms, on unmarked dirt roads and in howling Kansas winds. Notkin and Arnold also went to the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe to use the multi-million dollar Ion Beams for Analysis of Materials (IBeAM) to examine their finds and to speak with expert meteoriticists Dr. Meenakshi Wadhwa and Dr. Laurence Garvie. Did they find real meteorites or did they just discover dirt? Science Channel aired a one-hour pilot on May 20, 2009 at 9PM.