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

From: cdtucson at cox.net <*cdtucson_at_meteoritecentral.com*> Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 16:20:54 -0400 Message-ID: <20110405162054.5ECM8.6290.imail_at_fed1rmwml33> · cdtucson_at_meteoritecentral.com

--
Carl or Debbie Esparza
Meteoritemax
---- 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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