[meteorite-list] Pros at Work II

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:48:17 +0100
Message-ID: <00aa01cb8291$cabf3af0$603db0d0$_at_de>

Hi MikeG,

Yah certainly,
I was not so sure about the objectives of that project. I mean, could have
been also to photograph meteors, hence observation only,
but I checked the goals the Aussie network gave in the description of the
project, where they successfully applied for 300,000GBP from the STFC for
the maintainance of the stations and the recovery for the next 3 years
(roughly 10,000$/month).
(No worries, they have other grants too. I'm too lazy to check the other
grants, someone from European net said, they got 1.5 million Euro from EU
too - peanuts anyway.).
And there is told, that indeed they want to recover meteorites by means of
the stations.

Quote:
"This technique has been employed a number of times over the last 50 years,
all in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, but although hundreds
meteorite falls have been observed, only four were recovered. The poor
success rate is down to the difficulty in recovering a small rock in an area
of several square kilometres when there is significant undergrowth. Our
solution was rather simple. Over the last few decades, tens of thousands of
meteorites have been found in the world's deserts. Put a fireball network in
a desert and it should be much easier samples. We have designed a fireball
observatory that can operate automatically in the harsh environment of the
Australian desert. Based on previous fieldwork in this area, looking for old
weathered meteorites, we should have about a 70% chance of finding
meteorites that we see land."

So I was only thinking, what could help, to meet their goals and their
predictions better. (Now they're still at 14% recovery rate and not at 70%,
as they supposed they will achieve.)
Especially, when they say on their homepage, that they can't go searching
more often, because it's so expensive.

Hence only for that project. To find fresh falls - as you know, Australia
implemented the 1970ies UNESCO convention - commendation of the working
group on meteorites of UNESCO was for fresh falls: Go and get it ASAP! -
it's no good to let a fall first one or two years in desert before you
search it.
And to connect the finds with orbits calculated from the fireball tracks.


Of course you're right else, Mike:

>"Over the last few decades, tens of thousands of meteorites have been found
in the world's deserts."

Yes in the world's deserts - though they could have added also: "but only
in the Australian deserts not."

Naturally, if you forbid the hunt or if you take any incentive for the
people to search, you won't have meteorites.
If it would be about meteorites only, the Aussies would simply have to
liberate the hunting/ownership/export practice, maybe could introduce a
split solution,
and of course then the new finds would flow in to Perth and to the other
institutes, for free
(and of course at much lower costs, even when they would be partially
purchased.)

That really everyone knows. I guess Bevan & Crew as well as you and me and
any meteoricist too.

But here I was thinking, that if you build up such a great project, you
shouldn't stop just exactly before the last step!
And we don't want, that in the end, the Australian network will have the
same fate like the Prairie network.

I think, they have to search more often or with more personnel - and if that
is too expensive, they should find a solution, that others, who naturally
are used to hunt more intensively and under more spartan conditions and who
are simply the better hunters, could help them. In the deserts of Sahara,
Oman, USA it works.

Buuuut as told,
Definitely not our cup of tea,
we're no Aussies, nor are we scientists.

Best!
Martin
Received on Fri 12 Nov 2010 12:48:17 PM PST