A team of newly arrived rock hounds are on the ice! They are researchers taking part in the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program.
Their job during the 2010-2011 field season is to recover meteorite samples from the Antarctic.
ANSMET field work has been supported since 1976 by grants from NASA’s Planetary Science Division and the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation.
In a recent blog from team member, Serena Aunon of the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas:
“Winds, winds…and more winds. In Antarctica the winds are relentless and forced the Recon team to spend yesterday and this morning inside the tent. We did manage to get out in the afternoon, however, and found an additional four meteorites in the field,” Aunon writes.
“Preparing to go out on the ice takes the better part of an hour putting on multiple layers of thermal clothing, sunscreen, gathering equipment, and warming up the skidoos. The skidoos are our best friend out in the field as they carry a survival kit for four people, meteorite gathering equipment, multiple liters of water, food, medical kits, iridium phones and GPS devices. We take extra care in the mornings examining the skidoo engines to ensure peak performance,” Aunon explains.
So far, the team has snagged and bagged over 100 meteorites.
Toolkit
Meteorites have been found in Antarctica since the dawn of exploration of that continent. The first Antarctic meteorite was found in 1912, by a member of an Australian Antarctic expedition.
Typically, when someone in the search group comes upon a meteorite, the collection process begins.
The toolkit of the meteorite hunter is relatively simple: some sterile bags to put the meteorites in, some numbered tags to label them with, tape to close and seal the bags, a notebook to take down any distinguishing features of the sample, some scissors to cut the tape, or to cut bags open.
At the end of a good day, this backpack is full of meteorites instead of empty bags.
No nose drips please!
Great care is taken not to touch the meteorite, or get close enough to breathe on it or drip a nose on it. The meteorite is placed into a sterile bag as quickly as possible…usually by putting the bag over it. The meteorite is measured, and sometimes photographed, and its size and color and possible classification are noted.
A small aluminum tag with an ID number is also inserted into the bag, and the whole thing sealed up tight.
After the meteorites are found in the field, they are shipped still frozen to the Antarctic Meteorite Curation labs at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. There the meteorites are carefully dried and cracked open and small pieces are broken out for study as thin sections.
Like to keep tabs on their field work?
Drop in on the meteorite hunters by going to:
http://humanedgetech.com/expedition/ansmet1011/
By Leonard David