The meteorite team arrived in Cape Town on January 5 but due to bad weather, the flight was delayed to arrive in Novo. Initially planned on Wednesday Jan.8, and after one missed attempt on Jan. 10 (the flight turned back half way!!), the team finally arrived at Princess Elisabeth Station on Monday 13 directly through the new landing field in Romnoes with the Ilyushin. They almost immediately left to the Nansen Ice Field, with nice weather conditions (like -30°c). The team is led by Steven Goderis (VUB), and composed of Hamed Pourkhorsandi (ULB), Naoki Shirai (Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan) and Mehmet Yesiltas (Kirklareli University, Turkey). So far, 66 meteorites have been collected, including rare types such a carbonaceous chondrites and meteorites coming from asteroid Vesta. The weather had been bad for the last 3 days, with white-out conditions. Hopefully, the entire Nansen Blue Ice Field will be investigated this time. This is certainly not easy, with harsh weather conditions and the altitude of the plateau (3000m). Stay tuned for more pictures soon!!
Belgian research at the poles