A senior polar researcher said yesterday that China's 22nd annual expedition to Antarctica will be launched in November and will primarily aim to collect meteorites in the Grove Mountains.

"Mount Grove is believed to be one of the most beautiful places in Antarctica and is also an ideal place for meteorite research," said Yang Huigen, deputy director of the Polar Region Research Center and the expedition’s leader, told China Daily on Wednesday.

He said the expedition would last for four and a half months and would also investigate the feasibility of setting up China's third Antarctic science station.

So far, China has built two scientific stations there, the Great Wall and Zhongshan stations.

Meteorites can offer information on the development of the universe, and the Antarctic environment helps preserve them.

Because meteorites from there are typically more than 100,000 years old, they are especially valuable to scientific research, said Yang.

He said Chinese scientists will also take part in international Antarctic research under ice lakes and into global warming.

(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2005)