BBC 英语学习 新闻词汇 Defending ourselves from meteorites

Do you want to find a meteorite?

Well, here is where to look out on the Antarctic ice, the pristine white surface makes

meteorites easier to see. Alexander gust is part of a team hunting for rocks from space, which makes sense, because he spends a lot of his time up here.

He is a former commander of the International Space Station, and has spent more time in orbit than any other European.

But he is back on Earth, searching for clues about the origin of our solar system.

His boss on the ice gives me a lesson in how to find a meeting.

So John has found more meteorites than anyone else.

So we're going to simulate finding a meteorite.

We've placed front on the snow over there, right?

So we've been driving on the Skidoo.

We've spotted it over there. What happens next?

Well, next thing we walk over to confirm whether it's a meteorite or not.

See all that's a cute. You don't inter touch it.

So we're up wind of it too.

They don't want to drip my nose on it.

No, snot is the least of it.

There are strict rules to ensure nothing contaminates the meteorites.

Most meteorites date back billions of years, right to the birth of the solar system.

So the research here helps us understand how the Earth itself was formed, and it could also protect our planet.

Everybody knows that the dinosaurs came to extinction because of a big, big asteroid crashing into Earth.

That was long ago, but nowadays, still, we have asteroids hitting Earth.

Sooner or later, a bigger one is going to hit us.

They're made of, in principle, the same stuff as some of these rocks that we find out there, the polar Plateau, if ever, one comes straight at us.

And we realize that we can only do something about that if we know exactly what is made of.

For astronaut Alex, the rocks hold a personal significance.

You see things coming from outer space, zipping past you into the earths atmosphere.

And that's a weird thought when you, for the 1st time in your life, see your shooting star from above, realizing, hey, that thing, this will pass me.

So his Antarctic trip kind of closes a circle.

The astronaut has recovered the remains of shooting stars on Earth, so we can understand our planet a bit better.

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