A Breccia of Ureilitic and C2 Carbonaceous Chondrite Materials from Almahata Sitta: Implications for the Regolith of Urelitic AsteroidsThe Almahata Sitta (AhS) polymict ureilite is the first meteorite to originate from a spectrally classified asteroid (2008 TC3) [1-3], and provides an unprecedented opportunity to correlate properties of meteorites with those of their parent asteroid. AhS is also unique because its fragments comprise a wide variety of meteorite types. Of approximately140 stones studied to-date, ~70% are ureilites (carbon-rich ultramafic achondrites) and 30% are various types of chondrites [4,5]. None of these show contacts between ureilitic and chondritic lithologies. It has been inferred that 2008 TC3 was loosely aggregated, so that it disintegrated in the atmosphere and only its most coherent clasts fell as individual stones [1,3,5]. Understanding the structure and composition of this asteroid is critical for missions to sample asteroid surfaces. We are studying [6] the University of Khartoum collection of AhS [3] to test hypotheses for the nature of 2008 TC3. We describe a sample that consists of both ureilitic and chondritic materials.
Document ID
20170005743
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Goodrich, C. A. (Lunar and Planetary Inst. Houston, TX, United States)
Fioretti, A. M. (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Padua, Italy)
Zolensky, M. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Fries, M. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Shaddad, M. (Khartoum Univ. Sudan)
Kohl, I. (California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)
Young, E. (California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)
Jenniskens, P. (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Inst. Mountain View, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
June 23, 2017
Publication Date
July 23, 2017
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Report/Patent Number
JSC-CN-39693
Meeting Information
Meeting: Annual Meeting of The Meteoritical Society