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Unveiling Clues from Spacecraft Missions to Comets and Asteroids through Impact ExperimentsThe Deep Impact Spacecraft mission was the first to boldly face the challenge of impacting the surface of a comet, 9P/Tempel 1, to investigate surface and subsurface 'pristine' materials. The Stardust mission to Comet 81P/Wild 2 brought back an exciting surprise: shocked minerals which were likely altered during the comet's lifetime. Signatures of shock in meteorites also suggest that the violent past of the solar system has left our small bodies with signatures of impacts and collisions. These results have led to the question: How have impacts affected the evolutionary path taken by comets and asteroids, and what signatures can be observed? A future planetary mission to a near-Earth asteroid is proposing to take the next steps toward understanding small bodies through impacts. The mission would combine an ESA led AIM (Asteroid Impact Mission) with a JHU/APL led DART (Double Asteroid Redirect Mission) spacecraft to rendezvous with binary near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymus (1996 G2). DART would impact the smaller asteroid, 'Didymoon' while AIM would characterize the impact and the larger Didymus asteroid. With these missions in mind, a suite of experiments have been conducted at the Experimental Impact Laboratory (EIL) at NASA Johnson Space Center to investigate the effects that collisions may have on comets and asteroids. With the new capability of the vertical gun to cool targets in the chamber through the use of a cold jacket fed by liquid nitrogen, the effects of target temperature have been the focus of recent studies. Mg-rich forsterite and enstatite (orthopyroxene), diopside (monoclinic pyroxene) and magnesite (Mg-rich carbonate) were impacted. Target temperatures ranged from 25 deg to -100 deg, monitored by connecting thermocouples to the target container. Impacted targets were analyzed with a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). Here we present the evidence for impact-induced shock in the minerals through both spectra and TEM imaging and compare with unshocked samples.
Document ID
20160011416
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Lederer, Susan M.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Jensen, Elizabeth
(Planetary Science Inst. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Fane, Michael
(California State Univ. San Bernardino, CA, United States)
Smith, Douglas
(California State Univ. San Bernardino, CA, United States)
Holmes, Jacob
(California State Univ. San Bernardino, CA, United States)
Keller, Lindasy P.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Lindsay, Sean S.
(Tennessee Univ. Knoxville, TN, United States)
Wooden, Diane H.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Whizin, Akbar
(University of Central Florida Orlando, FL, United States)
Cintala, Mark J.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Zolensky, Michael
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
September 21, 2016
Publication Date
October 6, 2016
Subject Category
Astronomy
Report/Patent Number
JSC-CN-37437
Meeting Information
Meeting: Annual Meeting for the Division of Planetary Sciences
Location: Pasadena, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: October 16, 2016
End Date: October 21, 2016
Sponsors: American Astronomical Society
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: 09-PGG09-0115
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF ST-1010012
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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