At the bottom of the world, a controversial search for cosmic leftovers

[alp227]

The geologist who conceived it called it the poor man’s space program. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) fumed that it was a waste of taxpayer dollars. Meteorite hunter Ralph Harvey simply calls it work.

For the 35th year, the United States is mounting its annual campaign to gather space rocks from the wind-hammered icefields of Antarctica.

“We’ll be living two to a tent for six weeks, and everybody’s got a snowmobile,” said Harvey, a geologist at Case Western Reserve University who is leading the expedition for the 21st time. “I guess we’re almost like cowboys trying to round up cows.”

Except these cows don’t moo. They hunker on the blue ice, half-buried, dark and inert. In the 24-hour sunshine of the austral summer — starting now — meteorites stick out like Angus among Holsteins.

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/at-the-bottom-of-the-world-a-controversial-search-for-cosmic-leftovers/2011/12/02/gIQAUU8hTO_singlePage.html



The cone-shaped top of the 250-pound meteorite known as "Big Lew" sits behind glass in a dust-proof lab at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Big Lew is the largest meteorite found in Antarctica since the United States began collecting them in 1975. (AP)

[rpannier]

1. Cool

I love these science stories
It's also further proof McBush is a moron