UK Polar Meteorite Exploration and Research

Meteorites are rocks from space. These precious samples provide us with invaluable evidence of how planets and planetary bodies in the Solar System formed and evolved through time.

This interdisciplinary project brings together Mathematicians, glaciologists, engineers and planetary scientists to study the science of meteorites in polar settings. We aim to:

  • understand the statistics of delivery rates of meteorites to the Earth
  • determine the transport of meteorites in different glacial settings
  • develop technology to locate meteorites buried within ice and trial this technology in a field setting
  • recover and classify meteorites samples from Antarctica, and use these samples to test key questions about the origin and evolution of the Solar System

 

Meteorite samples and dummy landmines on map of Antarctica (Image UoM)
Meteorite samples and dummy landmines on map of Antarctica [Image: UoM]