A COLLECTION of meteorites and rocks from Mars that have been more than a billion years in the making have helped to inspire youngsters in the Ribble Valley.

The rare samples were brought back to Earth from a series of NASA missions in the 1960s and 1970s and were loaned to St Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst College's prep school, to be used during lessons.

Students got up close and personal with some hand-sized meteorites as well as a 1.2billion-year-old piece of Mars and a 4.3billion-year-old nickel meteorite.

In comparison the solar system is 4.6billion-years-old.

The samples were provided by the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and collected during some of NASA’s first manned space missions to the Moon.

A 382kg of lunar material was brought back to Earth, mostly for use by scientists in their studies of the Moon, but small quantities are used to develop lunar and planetary sciences educational packages.

St Mary's Hall lower elements teacher, Sophie Metcalf, said: “The children have shown real curiosity while working with the samples, comparing their materials, weights on impact and the locations where they were found.

"They even set up an investigation into the effects of meteorites on a lunar surface.

"This has really brought their learning to life and given the children an experience of a lifetime."

The samples were loaned to the school last week, but because of their high value and rarity, the public were not allowed to be told that they had been there until they were removed.

STFC’s chief executive officer, professor John Womersley, said “This was a great opportunity for young people to be able to see, touch and really experience such important and exciting messengers from space turning science fiction into science fact.

"It’s an unforgettable experience to be able to hold such an important part of science history that has made such an incredible journey over millions of miles to reach us – and one we hope will inspire the scientists of the future.”

STFC offers a free of charge, short-term loan of the lunar samples to educational and scientific organisations within the United Kingdom.

Meteorites are pieces of rock from space that fall to Earth. They come from a variety of places and the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s collection includes samples from the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, the Moon and from Mars.