On Dec. 27, 1984, geologist Roberta "Robbie" Score plucked a cantaloupe-sized meteorite off a beautiful field of blue ice in the Antarctic, never dreaming that this alien rock would one day make her a rock star.
Score was merely doing her job as a member of a meteorite collection team called ANSMET (Antarctic Search for Meteorites), funded by the National Science Foundation.The meteorite she plucked from the bottom of the Earth was carefully packed, along with many others, and shipped back to the meteorite processing laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Nearly 12 years passed before NASA scientists announced on Aug. 8 of this year that this 4.1-pound specimen was a meteorite from Mars and that it contains the first clues of possible past life on the red planet.
Once Score was identified as the discoverer of the historic meteorite - officially called ALH84001 - her telephone "began to ring off the wall."
There were calls from Letterman, Geraldo, National Public Radio, CNN, local talk shows, and television, newspaper and magazine reporters around the world.
"I had one call from a German magazine that's equivalent to our Glamour magazine," she said. "I think that's a riot."
Score talked about her recent experiences over a long lunch in a downtown Denver restaurant. Formerly manager of the Antarctic Meteorite Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center, Score works today for a Denver company that provides logistical support for Antarctic expeditions.
She changed jobs shortly before NASA researchers broke their tantalizing news about ALH84001, one of only 12 Martian meteorites ever found and the only one to yield clues, however rudimentary, of extraterrestrial life.
Her move had nothing to do with the pending announcement. After 18 years at the space center "it was time to do something different," she explained.
Score was astounded by "the hype and hoopla" over ALH84001. "All of a sudden we're building McDonald's on Mars," she laughed. She was especially surprised to find herself an overnight celebrity.
"I never dreamed a month ago that I would be sitting here in Denver talking to a reporter about this. But I know I'm going to be old news very soon."
That may not be the case. While some scientists point to weaknesses in NASA's findings, the mere possibility of past Martian life has lent new energy to the hard-pressed space program.
President Clinton pledged that "America will put its full intellectual power and technological prowess behind the search for further evidence of life on Mars." And Vice President Al Gore will convene a bipartisan space summit in November to consider the space program's future "in light of the Mars discovery."
Although a reluctant celebrity, Score - a pretty, blue-eyed, auburn-haired woman of 44 - is a perfect spokesperson for NASA. Single ("I live with two cats," she volunteered), she is an articulate and committed scientist with a bright smile and good sense of humor.
She cringes, however, when reminded that some colleagues are now calling ALH84001 "Robbie's rock."
"I hate that!" she said with a nervous laugh. "A lot of people were involved in this (discovery). I don't deserve the credit."
Score was one of seven scientists on the 1984 ANSMET search team. The principal investigator was Dr. William Cassidy of the University of Pittsburgh.
The group flew from the United States to New Zealand, then to McMurdo Station at the southernmost point of Antarctica. After survival training, they flew by helicopter to the Allan Hills area, some 120 miles away, which is known for its meteorite yields. They camped there for six weeks.
"We each had our own snowmobile," Score recalled. "Usually we would work very systematically, cleaning out everything on the ice field. But on this day (Dec. 27, 1984) we weren't that well organized. We had sort of zoomed off into a gorgeous area of huge ice sculptures called The Pinnacles for some joyriding."
This is where Score saw ALH84001, a gray meteorite "about the size of a cantaloupe."
"We all found it," she insisted. "I happened to see it first. But if we had moved over 2 feet, someone else would have seen it."
"Robbie's rock" was misclassified for years as a commonplace fragment of an asteroid. In 1993 it was identified as a Martian rock, 4.5 billion years old. This meant it was a part of Mars when the planet was warmer, flowed with water and had a carbon dioxide atmosphere.
At this point, a team headed by geochemist David S. McKay at the Johnson Space Center began to investigate ALH84001 - in strict secrecy - for "possible biological activity."
Score knew about the McKay team's research "because of the unusual samples they requested" from her meteorite lab. She was not surprised when they announced that ALH84001 contained tiny particles - 100 times smaller than any bacteria found on Earth - that could be fossils of microscopic organisms that once thrived on Mars.
"They said this was a possibility," Score stressed. "They did not say it was definitive. A lot more studies are needed."
While Score has played it cool, her father, mother and sister have been thrilled by her role in the Martian meteorite story, she admitted. "They're proud of me. I'm the only person in my entire family with a (college) degree."
Score, who grew up in Detroit, was studying to be a dentist at UCLA when she took a course in geology and "got hooked." She earned a B.S. there and a master's in environmental management at the University of Houston.
In her job at the Johnson Space Center, Score saw every meteorite collected by the ANSMET teams. She joined the team in 1984 and again in 1986.
This fall, she is packing for a third trip to Antarctica, starting the last week of September and lasting until mid-March 1997.
In her new job as a logistics expert, Score will spend most of her time this year at the McMurdo research station, rather than in the field.
But old friends from the search teams "will be coming to town," she said. "And it will be fun. Antarctica is so beautiful!"
Score answered cautiously, meanwhile, when asked if she believes there is life beyond Earth.
"As a scientist, I would never say that because we have no scientific evidence of any kind," she said. "As an individual I can't believe we are alone in the universe."