Belgian researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm to determine areas with high potential for meteorite recovery.
The team consists of scientists from the Free University of Brussels, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and TU-Delft (Netherlands).
Antarctica is the most productive region for meteorite recovery.
A new artificial intelligence allows scientists to identify areas rich in meteorites.
For this, this technology combines state-of-the-art data sets in a machine learning algorithm.
Thus, it provides continent-wide estimates of the probability of finding meteorites at a given location.
In search of new meteorites
Meteorites are parts of planetary bodies that formed and evolved during the evolution of the solar system.
These extraterrestrial rocks landed on Earth after surviving passage through the atmosphere.
Directly accessible to the surface of the planet, meteorites constitute an important database on the functioning of nebular and planetary processes.
Antarctica is the most productive region for collecting meteorites on Earth.
In fact, about 62% of all meteorites recovered on Earth come from this region.
The results, more than 80% accurate, reveal the existence of unexplored areas, some of which are located near research stations.
Scientists consider that researchers have recovered less than 15% of all meteorites on the surface of the Antarctic ice sheet.
In search of the blue zones
Belgian researchers have developed an algorithm to support the search for meteorites.
They presented it in Science Advances on January 26, 2022. Concretely, thanks to known data and machine learning, this algorithm should facilitate the search for the remaining meteorites.
All while making the research process more cost-effective and banning chance-based expeditions.
To understand how this algorithm works, it must be understood that meteorites tend to group together through concentration mechanisms.
In fact, when a meteorite falls in an area of Antarctica, it first buries itself under the snow accumulation area of the ice sheet.
An area that covers 98% of the continent.
The meteorites then become embedded in the layer of ice.
Thus, they follow the path of the ice which flows under the effect of gravitational forces towards the margins of the continent.
"Although most of the meteorites carried by the engulfers end up in the ocean, a small fraction is brought to the surface", specify the scientists.
In fact, if mountains hide beneath the frozen surface, then they push meteorites to the surface.
It is these blue areas that the algorithm helps to find.
A new algorithm
The technology developed by Belgian scientists is based on satellite images, such as surface temperature and topography.
In other words, the team of researchers succeeded in designing a map referencing the most favorable Antarctic sites for the discovery of meteorites.
For this, the researchers used new detection techniques, such as drones and satellite images.
The map created by the team is said to be 80% accurate.
According to the team of scientists, 45,000 meteorites have already been collected in Antarctica, and the territory remains largely underexploited.
Indeed, new calculations by scientists suggest that more than 300,000 meteorites are still present on the surface of the ice sheet.
For the more curious, the famous map is also accessible at the address www.wheretocatchafallingstar.science.
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