15. ANSMET Field Camp

Meteorites are found far from the U.S. Antarctic station at McMurdo Sound, so the ANSMET meteorite hunters have to set up remote camps on the ice. ANSMET teams usually have six people: two permanent members (the team leader and an alpine scout) and four visiting members, usually meteorite specialists. Meteorite expeditions all take place in the Antarctic summer — October through early January — when snow and blizzards are not very common, and the Sun never sets.

These Antarctic tents, called Scott tents, each house two people. The tents have double walls and can withstand the harsh conditions, especially high wind, that are common. Each tent has a stove for cooking and another for heat. The stoves warm the top of the tent, where frozen foods and juice and other items can be thawed. Solar panels, seen outside the leftmost tent, provide electricity for computers, radios, and other equipment. Contact with the outside world is limited — usually a radio call each day to the base at McMurdo Sound.

S80-36583, NASA/JSC

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