[meteorite-list] Vernacular of "Meteorite"

From: Jeff Grossman <jngrossman_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:14:16 -0400
Message-ID: <50325448.30305_at_gmail.com>

Here is how Rubin and Grossman (2010) [MAPS 45, 114-122] dealt with this:

> Another difficult situation arises when considering projectiles that
> strike a spacecraft. For example, publications reporting on the Long
> Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), which was exposed to interplanetary
> space in low Earth orbit for 5.75 years, generally used the term
> meteoroid (not meteorite) to describe both the small impactors and the
> resulting particulate debris that was collected (e.g., Clark 1984).
> However, as pointed out by Beech and Youngblood (1994), according to
> existing definitions, meteoroids are defined as objects moving in
> interplanetary space and meteorites are defined as objects that have
> reached Earth. Neither definition seems to apply to material that has
> struck a spacecraft: that material is no longer in interplanetary
> space as an independent body, nor has it reached Earth or any other
> celestial body. One could quibble over whether a platform in orbit
> around the Earth is simply an extension of Earth?s surface, but it is
> also easy to imagine a situation where an object hits a spacecraft in
> orbit around the Sun or traveling with sufficient velocity to escape
> the solar system altogether. Beech and Youngblood (1994) indicated
> that either a new definition is needed for the term meteorite or a new
> term needs to be created to cover material that hits a spacecraft.
>
> The essential characteristic of a meteorite is that it represents
> material that comes from one place and survives an accretionary impact
> someplace else. In addition, the essential characteristic of a
> meteoroid is its independent existence as a solid object in
> interplanetary space. The most straightforward way to retain these
> characteristics is to allow the definition of meteorite to cover
> material that accretes to man-made objects. Returning to the LDEF
> example, we would prefer to say that meteoroids impacted the facility
> and that some of this material survived as small meteorites...

Jeff

>> On 8/20/2012 11:02 AM, Chris Peterson wrote:
> They might reasonably call it an anti-meteoroid shelter, but the fact
> is, "meteorite" is not well enough defined to say that once a
> meteoroid impacts an object in space, it can't be called a meteorite.
> I don't have a problem with the usage in the article. Meteoroid and
> meteorite are reasonably interchangeable in this context; the good
> thing is that they didn't call it an anti-meteor shelter.
>
> Chris
>
> *******************************
> Chris L Peterson
> Cloudbait Observatory
> http://www.cloudbait.com
>
> On 8/20/2012 8:54 AM, Pete Pete wrote:
>>
>> Hi, all,
>>
>> I don't recall this being discussed here before and hopefully I'm not
>> being too anal, but is the definition of "meteorite" evolving, or is
>> it being used improperly here (and frequently in the past when
>> referring to the ISS and these shields).
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Pete
>>
>>
>> http://rbth.ru/articles/2012/08/20/russian_cosmonauts_to_install_anti-meteorite_shelter_on_iss_17508.html
>>
>> http://rbth.ru/articles/2012/08/20/russian_cosmonauts_to_install_anti-meteorite_shelter_on_iss_17508.html
>>
>>
>> Russian cosmonauts to install anti-meteorite shelter on ISS
>
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Received on Mon 20 Aug 2012 11:14:16 AM PDT