THE ANTARCTIC SEARCH FOR METEORITES PROGRAM: A NEW GENERATION OF RESEARCH (Invited Presentation)

The Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) is a competitively-funded research program supported by NASA’s Planetary Defense Initiative. Since its founding at the University of Pittsburgh and its first deployment in 1976, ANSMET has conducted 43 field seasons and recovered ~ 23,400 meteorite specimens from the East Antarctic icesheet. ANSMET continues to provide foundational support for extraterrestrial material research through the largest meteorite research collection in the world and a uniquely altruistic approach. Samples of 100% of the specimens are rapidly provided free of charge upon request to researchers from around the world, with no priority given to programmatic personnel or bias toward prior funding. As a result over 500 laboratories in dozens of countries have received samples for their research since the program began, and nearly 1000 samples are delivered per year. The resulting impact on planetary science has been astounding, rivalling that of the Apollo moon landings; ANSMET samples have supported over 10,000 publications. ANSMET fieldwork is also inclusive, with nearly 200 volunteers from the international geology and planetary science community having served as field party members.

After a 3-year hiatus imposed by the COVID pandemic, ANSMET plans to return to the field for its 44th field season during the upcoming 2023-2024 austral summer. Current plans include the deployment of an 8-person field team to the Davis-Ward icefields, a unique site in the headwaters region of the Beardmore Glacier where previous seasons have yielded over 3000 specimens. Using ANSMET’s existing protocols to build off previous fieldwork, the team anticipates completing systematic searching at the site by early January, at which time the team will move to a promising nearby icefield at the foot of the Dominion Range. As time and conditions allow the team will also conduct baseline research into the phenomena of blue-ice meteorite concentrations, sites recently proven to serve as reservoirs of uniquely ancient (several Ma) ice valued for its climate records.