After two and a half tent days, we are finally out in the field again. It’s still pretty cold (-5° F), but the wind is not quite as strong as it has been (still cold enough though that we went back to camp at lunchtime to warm up a bit, something we don’t usually do).

It has been pointed out to us by a dedicated reader of our blog, that we have never actually described how we collect the meteorites once we have found them. So, here goes.

We do sweeps on the blue ice in a row with team members equally spaced between the two end members who keep us on track for the area we are searching. When someone finds a meteorite, they wave to the rest of the team and everyone comes over for the collection process (after marking the spot they were at on the sweep, usually with a pickaxe or ice chipper).

Johnny has the GPS on his skidoo and he drives up to get the coordinates. While he is doing this, the rest of us prepare to document and collect the meteorite. Each meteorite gets a number, randomly selected from a bag of metal tags with numbers preprinted on them. The number is recorded on a counter with a scale at the bottom, and someone holds the counter just over the meteorite, while another person takes a picture of both.

After the picture has been taken, the meteorite is also measured and the amount of fusion crust on it is estimated. Johnny takes notes for each meteorite, writing down these measurements, a guess at what type of meteorite it is, and any unusual circumstances regarding the collection (for example, if the rock was picked up because it wasn’t initially recognized as a meteorite).

The meteorite is then collected in a clean plastic bag. This can be a bit tricky, because we can’t touch the inside of the bag and, of course, we also can’t touch the meteorite.  The usual technique, perfected by Ryan, is to hold the bag open and use one of the open edges to scoop the meteorite inside the bag. The bag is then folded and the metal tag with the number on it is placed inside the bag (but not touching the meteorite). Finally the bag is taped up and put into the collection kit (it’s actually just a backpack…).

The location of each meteorite is also marked with a flag with the sample number on it, in case something goes wrong with the GPS and we have to come back and reacquire the coordinates. Once all of this is done, we return to our positions and continue with the sweep.

The collection process in the moraines is similar, except that we usually spread out and search for an hour or two, laying down flags when we find a meteorite, and then at the end gather together to collect everything that was found.
Back at camp, the meteorites are stored in a large box, which will be transported back to McMurdo with us, and from there they go by ship to the Johnson Space Center.

So there you have it, meteorite collection 101.

— written by Christine Floss, Jan 14, 2015, Davis-Ward