Antarctica provides a unique environment for the collection of meteorites, because the cold desert climate preserves meteorites for long periods of time, NASA said.
Movements of the ice sheets can concentrate meteorites in certain locations, making them relatively easy for scientists to find.
To search for meteorites, ANSMET deploys small field parties during the Antarctic summer (winter in the northern hemisphere). Even in summer conditions are harsh, with temperatures dropping to well below minus 18 degrees Celsius.
The ANSMET teams are flown to remote areas, where they live in tents on the ice and search for meteorites using snowmobiles or on foot.
Meteorites come from a variety of places in the solar system. Most meteorites originated on asteroids, which are remnants of the materials from which the planets formed.
Impacts of asteroids on the ancient Earth and other bodies in the solar system also may have played a significant role in the delivery of volatiles (like water) and organic molecules (such as amino acids) to planetary bodies, which, in turn, could have been important to the development of life.
A few meteorites originated on the Moon and Mars – blasted off the surfaces by large asteroid impacts and later falling to Earth.
The lunar meteorites may come from parts of the Moon not visited by astronauts in the 20th century, and they extend our knowledge of Earth’s companion and how it formed.
Martian meteorites are humankind’s only specimens of rocks known to be from another planet.
Sourced from agencies, feature image courtesy: The Indian Express
