French Advances in Science and Technology July 3, 2001 – Issue #270 (Excerpt)

Paris – July 3, 2001 – Issue #270 (Excerpt)

ANTARCTIC.CNRS scientists are planning to launch a more ambitious program of
meteorite collection than the one they carried out here last year and
recently completed. The first project melted down over 400 cubic feet of
pure Antarctic snow to obtain a harvest of several hundred micrometeorites,
mostly hydrous, carbonaceous bits of very early solar system called
chondrites and less than O.5 mm in size. Project scientists estimate by
extrapolation that some 6000 tons of this moon-and-planet dust fall to earth
annually but only in dust-free environments like the Antarctic can the
material be isolated. (Le Nouvel Observateur, June 14, p103)