[meteorite-list] Scientists Travel To Antarctica To Continue The Search For Meteorites

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:53:32 2004
Message-ID: <200212041718.JAA29107_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.astronomy.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/001/115vamkh.asp

Astronomy at the Ends of the Earth

Scientists travel to Antarctica to continue their search for
extraterrestrial rocks.

by Kelly Kizer Whitt
astronomy.com
November 29, 2002

Teams of meteorite hunters are returning for their 26th year to the endless
blue and white wind-swept ice fields of Antarctica. Thanks to a 3-year,
$1.6-million grant from NASA, the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program
(ANSMET) of Case Western Reserve University is able to add a new
reconnaissance team to supplement the pre-existing team supported by the
National Science Foundation.

The new team will spend six weeks scouring the Pecora Escarpment, which
lies about 200 kilometers from the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
The hunters will live in tents with their basic needs re
supplied by support aircraft. Traveling light allows the researchers to
explore areas that have been previously inaccessible. The larger team of
researchers will focus on the Goodwin Nunataks and MacAlpine Hills, areas
known for high concentrations of meteorites. On the big ice sheets, where
the nearest earth rocks are 3000 meters below your feet, it's easy to
distinguish rocks that must have come from space.

The teams have high hopes of bringing back meteorites that originated on
Mars. James Garvin, a lead scientist for Mars Exploration, explains the
importance of Martian samples: "As NASA prepares to embark upon a decade
of intensified in situ exploration of Mars and on the way to an era in which
sample return will be a key facet of our program, the collection of priceless
meteorite samples from Antarctica is a vital step." He adds that "by
supporting a dual-sampling team approach this year, NASA hopes to return a
diversified set of meteorite samples and to increase the possibility of
discovering additional meteorites from Mars." As the only available samples
from Mars, these specimens have taught scientists about the geology of the
Red Planet, including providing a chronology for igneous events, allowing
direct study of the composition and properties of Martian material, and
revealing the presence of organic compounds. The Antarctic finds have also
afforded researchers the best and only possible glimpse into upcoming
sample-return missions to Mars.

Over the past quarter of a century, more than 11,800 meteorites have been
recovered by the ANSMET team, including five Martian meteorites. The first
Martian meteorite found in Antarctica and the seventh worldwide was
retrieved from the Allan Hills region in 1977. But the fourth Martian
meteorite found in Antarctica is the one that produced the most stir.
Known as ALH84001, the space rock found near Allan Hills in 1984 showed
evidence of possible ancient microbial life on Mars. Who knows what other
discoveries are waiting on the icy continent at the end of the Earth?
Received on Wed 04 Dec 2002 12:18:46 PM PST