Collecting meteorites in Antarctica with ANSMET (image Linda Martel, ANSMET) It is an astonishing fact that of the nearly 42,000 officially recognised meteorites logged on the Meteoritical Society database just over 29,000 were collected in Antarctica. That means that close to 70% of the worlds classified meteorites come from the most remote and inhospitable place…
Image of Vesta’s south polar region showing large central peak that rises 22km above the surrounding terrain (vertical scale 1.5 x horizontal). (image: NASA) As the NASA Dawn spacecraft continues its study of the asteroid Vesta the images being released have become increasingly detailed and breathtaking. It is true that the huge southern crater, with…
Neil Armstrong (left) and Eugene Cernan (right) giving evidence to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology (22nd September 2011). The hearing was held to examine the strategic goals and priorities of America’s human space exploration program. (image: House Committee). The launch of China’s first space laboratory, Tiangong-1, on 29th September was given wide…
The 74th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, held at the University of Greenwich, London, in early August was by any measure a great success. In order to accommodate the record number of abstracts submitted to the meeting the organisers had to increase the number of parallel sessions being held from two to three. As…
Meteorites: The Blog from the Final Frontier 