{"id":4787,"date":"2026-05-20T15:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/?p=4787"},"modified":"2026-05-21T09:36:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:36:46","slug":"progress-toward-a-field-season-in-2026-2027-and-other-assorted-developments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/2026\/05\/20\/progress-toward-a-field-season-in-2026-2027-and-other-assorted-developments\/","title":{"rendered":"Progress toward a field season in 2026-2027! And other assorted developments"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

The Lewis and Clark College Debate Team (see “other ANSMET-related things #3” below). <\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Hi everyone,<\/p>\n

First let me once again apologize for a lack of posts over the past 12 months. \u00a0I received several emails wondering what was going on, \u00a0but the short answer is that I had nothing to post but an ever-changing pile of guesswork and “we know nothing” comments. \u00a0I could have posted about what’s going on in my life I guess, \u00a0but I’ve never wanted this site to become a series of \u00a0State of the Ralph<\/strong> addresses. \u00a0Here’s hoping I have plenty of ANSMET news worthy of posting for a while…..<\/p>\n

That said, \u00a0there’s good news! \u00a0 As of yesterday NSF has informed Jim that we are formally on their list of teams to support for field deployments in the upcoming austral summer, 2026-2027. \u00a0Normally we’d hear that in mid-March, \u00a0so we were obviously concerned; but NSF also made it clear that the US Antarctic Program is way, way behind their normal schedule due to the continuing upheaval at NSF, driven by the current administration’s “overhaul everything” style of management. \u00a0Put another way, this time the delay in ANSMET fieldwork support doesn’t appear to be a problem with our program being a low priority. \u00a0Instead, \u00a0it’s science support overall that’s suffering, and we’re just a small part of that.<\/p>\n

I will provide details about our plans for the upcoming season in a future post soon- but until then, here are a few of the expectations:<\/p>\n

-It’s likely the field team will be six people, \u00a0deploying to the Dominion Range Main icefield, \u00a0about 50 km downstream on the Beardmore Glacier from the Davis-Ward icefields where we’ve worked so many recent seasons. \u00a0 It’s a site we know has enough meteorites to be worth a season, and given our track record maybe multiple seasons. The plan for now is a rehash of what we planned to do in 25-26 before that season went belly-up last summer. \u00a0The details are all subject to change at this time, and you can read last year’s synopsis in a post found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

-One thing you should definitely expect is some personnel changes. \u00a0Both John Schutt and I are past our deployment days at this stage; and real-life issues unfortunately mean that Brian Rougeux is not likely to deploy with us as lead mountaineer. \u00a0As to the other field team personnel that \u00a0Jim had lined up for 25-26, \u00a0we know at least a few of them simply won’t be available for 26-27. \u00a0Putting together a team is one of many short-term priorities in Jim’s workflow right now, \u00a0and he’s rapidly evolving into an old fart (I only said that to see if he reads this far, and to prove he doesn’t edit me).<\/p>\n

I’m going to close with a few other ANSMET-related things going on, \u00a0Headline-style:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0I’m flattered to announce that I’ll be giving the Barringer Public Lecture at the Meteoritical Society’s Annual Meeting, held in Frankfurt, Germany later this summer. \u00a0The fact that 2026 marks the 50th year of ANSMET’s existence is certainly a major part of that invite, and the meeting as a whole also includes a special session celebrating our Golden Anniversary (Led by Cari Corrigan and Michael Kelley). \u00a0I’m going to work very hard at being entertaining, so if you plan to attend please keep your scientific expectations to a minimum.<\/li>\n
  2. Jim Karner is also trying to arrange an ANSMET alumni meet-up for that meeting, \u00a0particularly hoping to gather as many of our non-US veterans as possible. \u00a0If you haven’t been contacted about it, \u00a0reach out to Jim; \u00a0it’s amazing how easy it is to lose track of people in this highly-interconnected age. \u00a0We’re particularly interested in finding field pictures showing the groups from the first decade of ANSMET, 1976 through 1986, \u00a0so if you have anything to share we’d love ot hear from you.<\/li>\n
  3. I’m happy to report that ANSMET has young friends that make compelling arguments (see the pic above). \u00a0This year’s National Forensic Association LD debate topic centered around the polar regions, with the exact topic being “The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its scientific exploration and\/or military presence in the Arctic and\/or Antarctic.” A team of students from Lewis and Clark College, led by professor Evan Grisham, \u00a0 constructed a case that centered around guaranteeing ANSMET’s deployment and further research to help resolve potential impacts that may arise from a lack of meteorite research. \u00a0There were over 100 entries from 22 different schools at their tournament in Nashville a few weeks ago, \u00a0and two of Lewis and Clark’s debaters finished in the top 40.<\/li>\n
  4. The last items to share aren’t exactly new, but I can’t resist a quick shout out highlighting recent astronaut connections. \u00a0About a year ago, ANSMET vet and astronaut Don Pettit returned from his latest stay at the International Space Station. He might look a wee bit worn-out, but the smile on his face tells a different story. \u00a0Can you spot the bonus, \u00a0another ANSMET vet in the picture? It’s Cady Colman, \u00a0looking very much in charge leading the pack. \u00a0A few months later, \u00a0 another ANSMET vet was selected as a member of NASA’s “Platypi” class of new Astronaut Candidates- Dr. Lauren Edgar<\/a>. \u00a0Congrats to all of them, \u00a0and here’s hoping we can continue our awesome collaborations, \u00a0teaching each other new ways to explore.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"\"

    Two ANSMET astronaut vets!<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

    That’s it for now! \u00a0-Ralph from the chilly springtime of CLE.<\/em><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hi everyone,<\/p>\n

    First let me once again apologize for a lack of posts over the past 12 months. \u00a0I received several emails wondering what was going on, \u00a0but the short answer is that I had nothing to post but an ever-changing pile of guesswork and “we know nothing” comments. \u00a0I could have posted about what’s going on in my life I guess, \u00a0but I’ve never wanted this site to become a series of \u00a0State of the Ralph<\/strong> addresses. \u00a0Here’s hoping I have plenty of ANSMET news worthy of posting for a while…..<\/p>\n

    That said, \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Continue reading… Progress toward a field season in 2026-2027! And other assorted developments<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":4789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[30,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/111\/2026\/05\/20144332\/Lewis-and-Clark-debate-team-scaled-e1779302644139.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4787"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4787"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4798,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4787\/revisions\/4798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}