Belgian researchers create ’treasure map’ to find meteorites in Antarctica

A Belgian-Dutch scientific team, including researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, has created the first ever "treasure map" revealing where meteorites can be found in Antarctica. Meteorites come from space and are found on the Earth's surface as stony material. They contain crucial information about the formation and evolution of our solar system. The results of the study were published in the renowned scientific journal Science Advances. Steven Goderis, professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and co-author of the study: " Although more than 45,000 meteorites have been collected in Antarctica so far, the potential for future missions to find meteorites is still largely unexploited. According to our calculations, more than 300,000 meteorites are still present on the surface of the ice sheet, with enormous scientific potential." Veronica Tollenaar, PhD candidate at Université libre de Bruxelles and lead author of the study, added: " We found several never-visited meteorite-rich areas relatively close to research stations. In addition, by using new detection techniques in the field, such as drones, we are at the beginning of a new era for Antarctic meteorite missions ." Meteorites in Antarctica.