WASHINGTON (States News Service) -- If Mars seems too far to travel for the WASHINGTON (States News Service) -- If
Mars seems too far to travel for the average space enthusiast, a tourism company has perhaps the next best offer: a weeklong hunt for Martian meteorites in Antarctica. Space Adventures of Alexandria, Virginia is seeking seven to 10 individuals to scan for space rocks in sub-zero temperatures along the frozen, mountainous landscape of the South Pole, where the majority of meteorites have been found in the past.
Space Adventures is offering tourists an opportunity to explore Antarctica in search of Martian meteorites.
Nestled against mountains created by continental shift, the dark, charred space rocks are visible underneath translucent blue ice. The troupe will spend seven days searching for meteorites and exploring the landscape. Participants will use a metal detector to probe the density of the once-hot rocks that lurk near the surface.
Wary scientists
Some in the scientific community, however, are up in arms over the idea of private meteorite tours.
Ralph Harvey, principal investigator for the National Science Foundation-funded Antarctic Search for Meteorites, said scientists are worried that commercial groups like Space Adventures will encroach upon meteorite collection for scientific use.
"We're faced suddenly with a bunch of people who want to come to our playground and keep [the meteorites] for themselves," Harvey said. "There's a lot of potential for damage here."
Harvey said he and other scientists urged the Scientific Community for Antarctic Research, an international body governing science in the region, to regulate private tours. "I'd be happy to have these people go pick these up if they put them in some valid scientific system," he said.
Emiline Paat-Dahlstrom, director of programs at Space Adventures, said all samples collected during the expedition would be used for scientific research at a nonprofit research institution approved by the National Science Foundation.
Price tag: A new, luxury sedan
Although the
temperature dips below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 17 degrees Celsius), the company promises the trip will be exciting."The potential of finding a Martian meteorite really adds to the excitement, and if we do, the examination of that meteorite would be much anticipated," said Space Adventures spokesman Bill Bell.
The expedition -- the first non-government search for Mars meteorites -- will be led by Adventure Network International and accompanied by a geologist.
The price tag of the trip -- taking 16 days, all told -- is $29,995 per person.
The tour embarks by seaplane December 1 from Punta Arenas, Chile, to the Thiel Mountains -- 300 nautical miles (556 kilometers) from the geographic South Pole.
Bell said the trip is meant to build upon the excitement generated by the 1996 finding of a Martian
meteorite thought by some to contain fossilized life forms, and the recent discovery suggesting subsurface water beds on Mars.Although the trip requires no previous experience or physical fitness, participants should be 16 years of age or older, and should be prepared for bitter-cold weather. "We recommend sleeping bags insulated to minus 20 degrees," Bell said.
"It's not as uncomfortable as the temperature sounds," he said, adding that the sun bakes the landscape.
"This isn't for someone who sits and watches TV most nights," he said.
The company plans to take seven people, but may take two more depending on the response, Bell said.
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