[meteorite-list] Scientists Find New Type Of Mineral In Historic Meteorite (Wassonite - Yamato 691)

From: Michael Gilmer <*meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com*> Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 15:21:30 -0400 Message-ID: <BANLkTim3bzKn9j4F7_Eh+O076vB_-Zwg4Q_at_mail.gmail.com> · meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com

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On 4/5/11, Ron Baalke <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
>
>
> April 5, 2011
>
> Dwayne C. Brown
> Headquarters, Washington
> 202-358-1726
> dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov
>
> William Jeffs
> Johnson Space Center, Houston
> 281-483-5111
> william.p.jeffs at nasa.gov
>
> RELEASE: 11-098
>
> SCIENTISTS FIND NEW TYPE OF MINERAL IN HISTORIC METEORITE
>
> HOUSTON -- NASA and co-researchers from the United States, South Korea
> and Japan have found a new mineral named "Wassonite" in one of the
> most historically significant meteorites recovered in Antarctica in
> December 1969.
>
> The new mineral was discovered within the meteorite officially
> designated Yamato 691 enstatite chondrite. The meteorite was
> discovered the same year as other landmark meteorites Allende and
> Murchison and the return of the first Apollo lunar samples. The study
> of meteorites helps define our understanding of the formation and
> history of the solar system.
>
> The meteorite likely may have originated from an asteroid orbiting
> between Mars and Jupiter. Wassonite is among the tiniest, yet most
> important, minerals identified in the 4.5-billion-year-old sample.
> The research team, headed by NASA space scientist Keiko
> Nakamura-Messenger, added the mineral to the list of 4,500 officially
> approved by the International Mineralogical Association.
>
> "Wassonite is a mineral formed from only two elements, sulfur and
> titanium, yet it possesses a unique crystal structure that has not
> been previously observed in nature," said Nakamura-Messenger.
>
> In 1969, members of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition
> discovered nine meteorites on the blue ice field of the Yamato
> Mountains in Antarctica. This was the first significant recovery of
> Antarctic meteorites and represented samples of several different
> types. As a result, the United States and Japan conducted systematic
> follow-up searches for meteorites in Antarctica that recovered more
> than 40,000 specimens, including extremely rare Martian and lunar
> meteorites.
>
> Researchers found Wassonite surrounded by additional unknown minerals
> that are being investigated. The mineral is less than one-hundredth
> the width of a human hair or 50x450 nanometers. It would have been
> impossible to discover without NASA's transmission electron
> microscope, which is capable of isolating the Wassonite grains and
> determining their chemical composition and atomic structure.
>
> "More secrets of the universe can be revealed from these specimens
> using 21st century nano-technology," said Nakamura-Messenger.
>
> The new mineral's name was approved by the International Mineralogical
> Association. It honors John T. Wasson, professor at the University of
> California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Wasson is known for his achievements
> across a broad swath of meteorite and impact research, including the
> use of neutron activation data to classify meteorites and to
> formulate models for the chemical makeup of bulk chondrites.
>
> "Meteorites, and the minerals within them, are windows to the
> formation of our solar system," said Lindsay Keller, space scientist
> at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Keller is the
> co-discoverer and principal investigator of the microscope used to
> analyze the Wassonite crystals. "Through these kinds of studies we
> can learn about the conditions that existed and the processes that
> were occurring then."
>
> Johnson's advanced work in nanotechnology is part of the center's
> Astromaterial Research and Exploration Science Directorate. It is
> currently the location for celestial materials that would be returned
> to Earth from spacecraft. The facility collaborates with industry,
> academic and international organizations.
>
> "The beauty of this research is that it really demonstrates how the
> Johnson Space Center has become a pre-eminent leader in the field of
> nanoscale analysis," said Simon Clemett, a space scientist at Johnson
> and co-discoverer of the new mineral. "In the words of the great
> English poet William Blake, we are now able 'to see the world in a
> grain of sand'.
>
> Collaborators in the discovery of the new mineral include Clemett,
> Keller and Zia Rahman in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration
> Science Directorate at Johnson; Alan Rubin from UCLA; Byeon-Gak Choi
> from Seoul National University, South Korea; Shouliang Zhang from the
> Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston; and Katsunari Oikawa from
> Tohoku University, Japan.
>
> To see images of Wassonite, visit:
>
> http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/wassonite.html
> 	
> -end-
>
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