The specialist Hasnaa Chennaui, a prestigious Moroccan geologist, points out in the science of meteorites that current space missions promise “more concrete” advances in knowledge of the solar system in 2023.
He explains, qualifying all these trips as “exceptional”, “The ongoing space missions will have a more concrete contribution to the knowledge of the solid bodies of the solar system.”
The scientist among these missions cites that of “James Webb”, the space telescope that studies cosmic history, that of “Mars sample return”, a space flight to collect rock and dust samples from Mars and return them to Earth, or the moon mission “Rashid1”.
Likewise, Chenaui – the only Arab and African woman who is part of the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society, the international reference organization in the field – stresses that there are many scientific research projects in collaboration with international organizations and universities on rare meteorites in Morocco.She states, “I am convinced that the results of these studies will have a real impact on our space.” Nearly 14,000 asteroid remnants have been discovered in Morocco and 25 falls have been historically documented, but most of these space rocks were exported and sold to private collectors, and others have not been scientifically well documented due to the lack of their own legislation.He introduced the discipline of meteorological studies for the first time in the country. Chenaui voluntarily assumed the difficult mission of ending the chaos in this area in Morocco more than 2 decades ago, managing to obtain the approval in February 2021 of a decree that includes an article that regulates the collection, sale and export of these meteorites.
Published by The Tampa Herald, news and information agency.
