What Is ANSMET?
Since 1976, the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET), funded by the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation, has recovered more than 10,000 specimens from meteorite stranding surfaces along the Transantarctic Mountains. The ANSMET specimens are currently the only reliable, continuous source of new, non-microscopic extraterrestrial material, and will continue to be until future planetary sample-return missions are successful. The samples already recovered provide essential "ground-truth" concerning the materials that make up the asteroids, planets and other bodies of our solar system, and their continued retrieval is the cheapest and only guaranteed way to recover new things from worlds beyond the Earth. The study of ANSMET meteorites has greatly extended our knowledge of the materials and conditions in the primeval nebula from which our solar system was born, revealed the complex and exotic geologic nature of asteroids, and proved, against the conventional wisdom, that some specimens represent planetary materials, delivered to us from the Moon and Mars, free of charge.

Why is ANSMET Important?
The ANSMET specimens have been the only reliable source of new, non-microscopic extraterrestrial material since the Apollo project, and will continue to be until future planetary sample-return missions develop and succeed. Those samples already recovered provide essential "ground-truth" concerning the materials that make up the asteroids, planets and other bodies of our solar system, and their continued retrieval is the cheapest and only guaranteed way to recover new specimens from worlds beyond the Earth. Their distribution and subsequent study has fundamentally changed our understanding of the solar system, greatly extending our knowledge of the materials and conditions present in the nebula from which our solar system was born 4.556 billion years ago. ANSMET meteorites provide samples of asteroids ranging from primitive bodies unchanged since the formation of the solar system to complex, miniature planets, where both traditional and exotic geological activity has taken place. Other ANSMET samples proved, against the conventional wisdom, that some meteorites actually represent planetary materials, delivered to us from the Moon and Mars, free of charge. ANSMET meteorites have even promoted the discovery that meteorites can be used to do astronomy, through the study of isotopically anomalous grains that could only have evolved in a different stellar environment. Over the past twenty years, ANSMET meteorites have provided a continuous, readily available and inexpensive supply of extraterrestrial materials, stimulating new research and shifting the paradigms of planetary geology.

Who owns the ANSMET meteorites?
The Antarctic Treaty governs and protects the scientific integrity of all research taking place on the continent of Antarctica, and forbids the removal of specimens of any kind from that continent except as samples to be used for scientific research. In accordance with that treaty, the recovered ANSMET specimens are ultimately the responsibility of the National Science Foundation as an agency of the US government. Since 1980, a three agency agreement has been in place which details the cooperative contributions and responsibilities of NSF, NASA, and the Smithsonian toward use of the recovered meteorites as important scientific specimens. This agreement tasks the NSF to support field operations, NASA to support storage curation, distribution and notification of recovered samples, and the Smithsonian to provide long term curation facilities for the collection and assist in sample characterization. In addition, NSF funds the Meteorite Working Group, a peer group of meteorite researchers created under the three agency agreement to offer expert advice on sample distribution and curation.

How is ANSMET unique?
Although meteorites have been recovered in Antarctica since the turn of the century (the first being found in 1912), and several other agencies have undertaken systematic Antarctic meteorite collection efforts of their own (notably Japan and the European Council), the details of ANSMET search, recovery and distribution techniques make the US collection the most valuable to science. Painstaking efforts during the fieldwork ensure return of a complete, unbiased sample with as low of a contamination level as possible, while careful training and involvement of professional meteorite researchers help to ensure that all possible meteorites are recovered, even in areas where terrestrial rock is abundant. Superb facilities and exceptionally trained researchers and technicians at the JSC and Smithsonian allow rapid initial characterization and description of large numbers of new finds, while the ANSMET sample distribution system guided by the MWG ensures rapid distribution of samples to interested researchers. These three factors optimize the amount of scientific information preserved in the recovered meteorites and ensure the availability of samples to researchers on a continuous, accessible basis.

Who runs ANSMET?
During its twenty year history of NSF support, the ANSMET program has been funded by the Earth Sciences section in the Office of Polar Programs. This reflects the nature of ANSMET research- we conduct field work in the Transantarctic mountains, collecting rock samples to which geological techniques are applied. From 1976 to 1995, research grants have been awarded to Prof. William A. Cassidy (of the University of Pittsburgh) Since 1996, Dr. Ralph P. Harvey (of Case Western Reserve University) has been the principal investigator. The ANSMET proposals have also listed Mr. John Schutt as mountain guide and field safety officer since 1981.