[meteorite-list] Russian Scientists Go On Meteorite-Hunting Expedition To Siberian Taiga

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:04 2004
Message-ID: <200304070621.XAA14256_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=3155431&startrow=11&date=2003-04-06&do_alert=0

RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS GO ON METEORITE-HUNTING EXPEDITION TO SIBERIAN TAIGA
Alexander Batalin
Russian Information Agency Novosti
April 6, 2003

IRKUTSK - Scientists from the Siberian city of Irkutsk went on an expedition
Sunday to search for traces of a large meteorite that crashed into taiga,
Siberia's wooded wilderness, in the north of the Irkutsk region last September.

Astronomer Sergei Yazev, the expedition's research chief, told RIA Novosti
the prime objective for the effort was to find and collect samples of meteorite
dust. But with the forest still under a thick blanket of snow, fragments of the
meteor itself aren't likely to be discovered until warm weather sets in, he said.

The scientists today flew to Mama, a district center and the nearest airstrip
to the site. They will travel the remainder of the way to the site on Buran
snowmobiles and then by ski.

The search party consists of six men from three institutes of the Irkutsk
Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian Division, which
pursue studies in geochemistry, the Earth's crust, and solar and earth physics.

The researchers all have experience in working in the tough conditions of
Siberian taiga, and are hopeful they will be able to accomplish the mission.

The expedition will last around 10 days, Yazev said.
Received on Mon 07 Apr 2003 02:21:37 AM PDT