Hunting for meteorites in Antarctica


Looking for a cheap way to explore the farthest reaches of the solar system? Look no further than Antarctica, writes Meenakshi Wadhwa, director of ASU’s Center for Meteorite Studies and professor at the School of Earth and Space Exploration, in a Future Tense article for Slate magazine.  

Meteorites – fragments of asteroidal and planetary bodies in our solar system – enable scientists to “push back the limits of how and when our solar system and the planets in it were formed.” They fall everywhere on Earth with equal probability, but as Wadhwa explains, “there are places where they are more easily found because the geology and environmental conditions allow these fallen rocks to be preserved for up to millions of years.”

Due to its cold, dry climate and the dynamics of its vast ice fields, Antarctica is Earth’s foremost meteorite hunting ground. Among other major discoveries, the first meteorites established to have originated on the moon and Mars were recovered from the white continent.  

Wadhwa has searched Antarctica for meteorites as a participant in the U.S. Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program during its 1992-1993 and 2012-2013 field seasons. ANSMET has recovered more than 20,000 meteorite specimens since 1976, many more “than were ever recovered throughout the world in the 500 years prior.” Amazingly, the total cost of the ANSMET program over the past 37 years, plus parallel European and Japanese programs, has been less than the cost of one NASA Discovery mission.

To learn more about meteorites, Antarctic expeditions and Dr. Wadhwa’s own life-changing experiences on the ice, visit Future Tense.  

Future Tense is a collaboration among ASU, the New America Foundation and Slate magazine that explores how emerging technologies affect policy and society.

Article source: Slate magazine

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