Northwest Africa 801

{{Short description|Meteorite found in Morocco}}

{{Infobox meteorite|Name=Northwest Africa 801|Alternative names=|Image=NWA 801, CR2 meteorite.jpg|Image_caption=NWA 801{{contradiction-inline|date=October 2021}} meteorite sample. 2.51 grams of the rare CR2 Renazzo{{contradiction-inline|date=October 2021}} Carbonaceous Chondrite.|Type=Chondrite|Class=Carbonaceous chondrite|Group=CR2|Structural_classification=|Composition=|Shock=|Weathering=|Country=Morocco|Region=|Lat_Long=|Observed_fall=No|Fall_date=|Found_date=2001|TKW={{convert|5|kg|lbs}}|Image2=|Image2_caption=}}

Northwest Africa 801 is a carbonaceous chondrite meteorite found in 2001 in Morocco.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=31863|title=Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Northwest Africa 801|website=www.lpi.usra.edu|access-date=2019-11-26}} It has a mass of 5kg and was purchased in Zagora, Morocco. At over 4.5 billions years old, it is older than the Earth. In November 2019, along with the Murchison meteorite it was the first to provide evidence of ribose in space and its transport to Earth,{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/sugar-detected-inside-meteorites-first-time-ever-1472986|title=Sugar has been detected inside meteorites for the first time ever|last=McCall|first=Rosie|date=2019-11-20|website=Newsweek|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-26}}{{cite web |last1=Steigerwald |first1=William |title=First Detection of Sugars in Meteorites Gives Clues to Origin of Life |url=https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/first-detection-of-sugars-in-meteorites-gives-clues-to-origin-of-life/ |website=NASA |access-date=6 March 2025}}{{cite journal |last1=Furukawa |first1=Yoshihiro |last2=Chikaraishi |first2=Yoshito |last3=Ohkouchi |first3=Naohiko |last4=Ogawa |first4=Nanako O. |last5=Glavin |first5=Daniel P. |last6=Dworkin |first6=Jason P. |last7=Abe |first7=Chiaki |last8=Nakamura |first8=Tomoki |title=Extraterrestrial ribose and other sugars in primitive meteorites |journal=PNAS |date=2019 |volume=116 |issue=49 |pages=24440-24445 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1907169116 |url=https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.1907169116 |access-date=5 March 2025|pmc=6900709 }} in an analysis of its composition by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. According to Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University, "the extraterrestrial sugar might have contributed to the formation of RNA on the prebiotic Earth which possibly led to the origin of life."{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/21/world/nasa-sugar-meteorites-intl-hnk-scli/index.html|title=NASA has found sugar in meteorites that crashed to Earth|last=Yeung|first=Jessie|date=|website=CNN|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-26}}