Cotswolds meteorite could hold the key to life Credit: Natural History Museum When a family fast asleep in the Cotswolds were woken by an almighty thud, they could never have known that the object causing it may be the key to finding out how life formed on Earth. The 300g rock on their driveway which made the noise, was the first meteorite to be found in the UK for 30 years. It landed after zooming through the air as a fireball. Surveying the strange object outside their home they guessed it was rather special, and summoned scientists from the Natural History Museum to investigate.