An artificial intelligence program Artificial Intelligence (AI) created by a
group of researchers, detected the presence of hundreds of thousands of
space rocks, meteorites, in the Antarctic region.
The research team from Belgium suspects that two-thirds of all meteorites
found on Earth previously came from Antarctica.
This is because Antarctica is a very cold and dry place, so that when space
rocks fall, they are still in very good condition. Reporting from Space,
Wednesday (26/1/2022) most meteorites in Antarctica that are trapped in ice
often end up in the ocean.
However, some of the space rock is on the surface of the ice sheet in the
area known as blue ice.
If the researchers' estimates of the more than 300,000 meteorite rocks
buried in Antarctica are correct, this object could still be found on the
surface of the blue ice. This place is an area that makes it easier for
researchers to find meteor rocks during field searches.
Then, the researchers also explained that almost all the space rock buried
in Antarctica found to date came from the surface.
However, this area of blue ice is usually discovered by accident. So, with
the AI system, the research team can predict some areas that have not been
explored.
"We found a number of unexplored areas with great potential for finding
meteorites," said Veronica Tollenaar, a glaciologist at the Free University
of Brussels in Belgium.
According to a study of meteorites buried in Antarctica that was published
in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday (26/1/2022), researchers used
artificial intelligence software to analyze satellite data from across the
Antarctic surface.
That way, they can identify the zones that have the most potential to host
previously undiscovered meteorites. The team said the programming was based
on equations with areas where experts had found space rocks.
This AI program is claimed to be able to identify nearly 83 percent of the
Antarctic region that contains many meteorites with great accuracy. In all,
the device was able to locate more than 600 zones that are most likely to
harbor meteorites on the continent.
Meanwhile, the latest findings show more than 45,000 meteorites found from
Antarctica, only comprising 5 percent to 13 percent of all meteorites.
This means there will be more space rock in Antarctica that can be
excavated. "Our calculations show that more than 300,000 meteorites are
still on the surface of the ice sheet," Tollenaar said.
While the AI program is 83 percent accurate at identifying the presence of
buried meteorites in Antarctica, Tollenaar said the research team still
needed to re-check directly in the designated area.
He added that the data that has been collected is expected to help refine AI
programs to work better in the future.
