A team led by Belgian researchers collects 115 meteorites in Antarctica

The team took part in the BELgian Antarctic Research Expedition (BELARE) (2024-2025), made up of researchers from Brussels universities VUB and ULB and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement in France. She traveled to the remote Belgica Mountains region of Antarctica, more than 300 km from the Princess Elizabeth Polar Station. This area had been unexplored by Belgian scientists since the 1960s.

In addition to the 115 meteorites – rocks from billions of years old planets, asteroids and comets that fell into our atmosphere and did not completely burn up – the team also collected thousands of micrometeorites, particles of cosmic dust as well as ice and rock samples.

Among the meteorites discovered are achondrites, representing planetary mantles, and carbonaceous chondrites, which constitute the most primitive meteorites. In their composition, these resemble the original material of the solar nebula, the enormous cloud of gas and dust that formed the solar system around 4.6 billion years ago.

“Each new (micro)meteorite we find is a remnant from the early years of our solar system. Depending on its type, it can provide us with specific answers about how planets formed around the sun. It provides an essential piece of the puzzle we let’s try to reconstruct it,” emphasizes Professor Steven Goderis of the VUB.