[meteorite-list] Meteorite-list Digest, Vol 163, Issue 22
From: jack satkoski <jackoski_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2016 17:33:40 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: <1132583287.1097624.1474306421010_at_mail.yahoo.com> Subject: petrographic studies of meteorites Would like to establish connections with those interested in the petrographic side of meteorite classification. jackoski at yahoo.com Jack Satkoski On Sunday, September 18, 2016 10:27 PM, "meteorite-list-request at meteoritecentral.com" <meteorite-list-request at meteoritecentral.com> wrote: Send Meteorite-list mailing list submissions to meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to meteorite-list-request at meteoritecentral.com You can reach the person managing the list at meteorite-list-owner at meteoritecentral.com When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Meteorite-list digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Meteorite Picture of the Day (valparint at aol.com) 2. Test for Damp Ground at Mars' Seasonal Streaks Finds None (Ron Baalke) 3. NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Mars 2020 Rover Mission (Ron Baalke) 4. Dawn Sets Course for Higher Orbit (Ron Baalke) 5. Ceres' Geological Activity, Ice Revealed in New Research (Ron Baalke) 6. NASA Approves 2018 Launch of Mars InSight Mission (Ron Baalke) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2016 00:00:11 -0700 From: <valparint at aol.com> To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Picture of the Day Message-ID: <1C3FABCA3ADB423882B09A15756AB8E7 at Seuthopolis> Content-Type: text/plain Today's Meteorite Picture of the Day: Bassikounou Contributed by: Rob Lenssen http://www.tucsonmeteorites.com/mpodmain.asp?DD=09/18/2016 ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2016 20:37:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Ron Baalke <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com (Meteorite Mailing List) Subject: [meteorite-list] Test for Damp Ground at Mars' Seasonal Streaks Finds None Message-ID: <201609190337.u8J3bWVD015173 at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6597 Test for Damp Ground at Mars' Seasonal Streaks Finds None Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 23, 2016 Seasonal dark streaks on Mars that have become one of the hottest topics in interplanetary research don't hold much water, according to the latest findings from a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars. The new results from NASA's Mars Odyssey mission rely on ground temperature, measured by infrared imaging using the spacecraft's Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS). They do not contradict last year's identification of hydrated salt at these flows, which since their 2011 discovery have been regarded as possible markers for the presence of liquid water on modern Mars. However, the temperature measurements now identify an upper limit on how much water is present at these darkened streaks: about as much as in the driest desert sands on Earth. When water is present in the spaces between particles of soil or grains of sand, it affects how quickly a patch of ground heats up during the day and cools off at night. "We used a very sensitive technique to quantify the amount of water associated with these features," said Christopher Edwards of Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff. "The results are consistent with no moisture at all and set an upper limit at three percent water." The features, called recurring slope lineae or RSL, have been identified at dozens of sites on Mars. A darkening of the ground extends downhill in fingerlike flows during spring or summer, fades away in fall and winter, then repeats the pattern in another year at the same location. The process that causes the streaks to appear is still a puzzle. "Some type of water-related activity at the uphill end still might be a factor in triggering RSL, but the darkness of the ground is not associated with large amounts of water, either liquid or frozen," Edwards said. "Totally dry mechanisms for explaining RSL should not be ruled out." He and Sylvain Piqueux of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, analyzed several years of THEMIS infrared observations of a crater-wall region within the large Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars. Numerous RSL features sit close together in some parts of the study region. Edwards and Piqueux compared nighttime temperatures of patches of ground averaging about 44 percent RSL features, in the area, to temperatures of nearby slopes with no RSL. They found no detectable difference, even during seasons when RSL were actively growing. The report of these findings by Edwards and Piqueux has been accepted by the peer-reviewed Geophysical Research Letters and is available online. There is some margin of error in assessing ground temperatures with the multiple THEMIS observations used in this study, enough to leave the possibility that the RSL sites differed undetectably from non-RSL sites by as much as 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 Celsius degree). The researchers used that largest possible difference to calculate the maximum possible amount of water -- either liquid or frozen -- in the surface material. How deeply moisture reaches beneath the surface, as well as the amount of water present right at the surface, affects how quickly the surface loses heat. The new study calculates that if RSL have only a wafer-thin layer of water-containing soil, that layer contains no more than about an ounce of water per two pounds of soil (30 grams water per kilogram of soil). That is about the same concentration of water as in the surface material of the Atacama Desert and Antarctic Dry Valleys, the driest places on Earth. If the water-containing layer at RSL is thicker, the amount of water per pound or kilogram of soil would need to be even less, to stay consistent with the temperature measurements. Research published last year identified hydrated salts in the surface composition of RSL sites, with an increase during the season when streaks are active. Hydrated salts hold water molecules affecting the crystalline structure of the salt. "Our findings are consistent with the presence of hydrated salts, because you can have hydrated salt without having enough for the water to start filling pore spaces between particles," Edwards said. "Salts can become hydrated by pulling water vapor from the atmosphere, with no need for an underground source of the water." "Through additional data and studies, we are learning more about these puzzling seasonal features -- narrowing the range of possible explanations," said Michael Meyer. "It just shows us that we still have much to learn about Mars and its potential as a habitat for life." The new study touches on additional factors that add to understanding of RSL. -- If RSL were seasonal flows of briny water followed by evaporation, annual buildup of crust-forming salt should affect temperature properties. So the lack of a temperature difference between RSL and non-RSL sites is evidence against evaporating brines. -- Lack of a temperature difference is also evidence against RSL being cascades of dry material with different thermal properties than the pre-existing slope material, such as would be the case with annual avalanching of powdery dust that accumulates from dusty air. Arizona State University, Tempe, provided and operates the THEMIS camera, which records observations in both infrared and visible-light wavelengths. JPL, a division of Caltech, manages the Mars Odyssey project for NASA. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter and collaborates with JPL to operate it. Updated (Aug. 26 at 11:00 a.m.) to correct the conversion to 30 grams of water per kilogram of soil as the upper limit on amount of water in the soil. News Media Contact Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077 dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov / laura.l.cantillo at nasa.gov 2016-215 ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2016 20:38:52 -0700 (PDT) From: Ron Baalke <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com (Meteorite Mailing List) Subject: [meteorite-list] NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Mars 2020 Rover Mission Message-ID: <201609190338.u8J3cqaN016170 at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6603 NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Mars 2020 Rover Mission Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 25, 2016 NASA has selected United Launch Services LLC of Centennial, Colorado, to provide launch services for a mission that will address high-priority science goals for the agency's Journey to Mars. Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July 2020 aboard an Atlas V 541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rover will conduct geological assessments of its landing site on Mars, determine the habitability of the environment, search for signs of ancient Martian life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers. Additionally, scientists will use the instruments aboard the rover to identify and collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in sealed tubes, and leave them on the surface of Mars for potential return to Earth by a future mission to the Red Planet. The mission will build on the achievements of Curiosity and other Mars Exploration Program missions, and offer opportunities to deploy new capabilities developed through investments by NASA's Space Technology Program and Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, as well as contributions from international partners. The Mars 2020 rover mission presents new opportunities to learn how future human explorers could use natural resources available on the surface of the Red Planet. An ability to live off the land could reduce costs and engineering challenges posed by Mars exploration. The total cost for NASA to launch Mars 2020 is approximately $243 million, which includes: the launch service; spacecraft and spacecraft power source processing; planetary protection processing; launch vehicle integration; and tracking, data and telemetry support. NASA is on an ambitious journey to Mars that includes sending humans to the Red Planet. The robotic missions of NASA's Planetary Science Division are leading the way with the upcoming Mars 2020 rover, the InSight lander mission targeted for 2018, Opportunity and Curiosity rovers currently exploring the Martian surface, Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft currently orbiting the planet, and the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) orbiter, which is helping scientists understand what happened to the planet's atmosphere. NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage and oversee the Atlas V launch service for Mars 2020. The Mars 2020 Project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars 2020 spacecraft development for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. For more information about NASA's Mars 2020 rover, visit: http://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ For more information about NASA's Launch Services Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/launchservices News Media Contact Tabatha Thompson Headquarters, Washington 202-358-4811 tabatha.t.thompson at nasa.gov George H. Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 321-867-2468 george.h.diller at nasa.gov 2016-220 ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2016 20:43:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Ron Baalke <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com (Meteorite Mailing List) Subject: [meteorite-list] Dawn Sets Course for Higher Orbit Message-ID: <201609190343.u8J3hHex018298 at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6608 Dawn Sets Course for Higher Orbit Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 31, 2016 After studying Ceres for more than eight months from its low-altitude science orbit, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will move higher up for different views of the dwarf planet. Dawn has delivered a wealth of images and other data from its current perch at 240 miles (385 kilometers) above Ceres' surface, which is closer to the dwarf planet than the International Space Station is to Earth. Now, the mission team is pivoting to consider science questions that can be examined from higher up. After Dawn completed its prime mission on June 30, having surpassed all of its scientific objectives at Vesta and at Ceres, NASA extended the mission to perform new studies of Ceres. One of the factors limiting Dawn's lifetime is the amount of hydrazine, the propellant needed to orient the spacecraft to observe Ceres and communicate with Earth. By going to a higher orbit at Ceres, Dawn will use the remaining hydrazine more sparingly, because it won't have to work as hard to counter Ceres' gravitational pull. "Most spacecraft wouldn't be able to change their orbital altitude so easily. But thanks to Dawn's uniquely capable ion propulsion system, we can maneuver the ship to get the greatest scientific return from the mission," said Marc Rayman, chief engineer and mission director, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. On Sept. 2, Dawn will begin spiraling upward to about 910 miles (1,460 kilometers) from Ceres. The altitude will be close to where Dawn was a year ago, but the orientation of the spacecraft's orbit -- specifically, the angle between the orbit plane and the sun -- will be different this time, so the spacecraft will have a different view of the surface. The mission team is continuing to develop the extended mission itinerary and will submit a full plan to NASA next month. Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of mission participants, visit: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission More information about Dawn is available at the following sites: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov News Media Contact Elizabeth Landau Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6425 elizabeth.landau at jpl.nasa.gov 2016-227 ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2016 20:45:29 -0700 (PDT) From: Ron Baalke <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com (Meteorite Mailing List) Subject: [meteorite-list] Ceres' Geological Activity, Ice Revealed in New Research Message-ID: <201609190345.u8J3jToG019172 at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6611 Ceres' Geological Activity, Ice Revealed in New Research Jet Propulsion Laboratory September 1, 2016 A lonely 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain on Ceres is likely volcanic in origin, and the dwarf planet may have a weak, temporary atmosphere. These are just two of many new insights about Ceres from NASA's Dawn mission published this week in six papers in the journal Science. "Dawn has revealed that Ceres is a diverse world that clearly had geological activity in its recent past," said Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. A Temporary Atmosphere A surprising finding emerged in the paper led by Russell: Dawn may have detected a weak, temporary atmosphere. Dawn's gamma ray and neutron (GRaND) detector observed evidence that Ceres had accelerated electrons from the solar wind to very high energies over a period of about six days. In theory, the interaction between the solar wind's energetic particles and atmospheric molecules could explain the GRaND observations. A temporary atmosphere would be consistent with the water vapor the Herschel Space Observatory detected at Ceres in 2012-2013. The electrons that GRaND detected could have been produced by the solar wind hitting the water molecules that Herschel observed, but scientists are also looking into alternative explanations. "We're very excited to follow up on this and the other discoveries about this fascinating world," Russell said. Ahuna Mons as a Cryovolcano Ahuna Mons is a volcanic dome unlike any seen elsewhere in the solar system, according to a new analysis led by Ottaviano Ruesch of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Universities Space Research Association. Ruesch and colleagues studied formation models of volcanic domes, 3-D terrain maps and images from Dawn, as well as analogous geological features elsewhere in our solar system. This led to the conclusion that the lonely mountain is likely volcanic in nature. Specifically, it would be a cryovolcano -- a volcano that erupts a liquid made of volatiles such as water, instead of silicates. "This is the only known example of a cryovolcano that potentially formed from a salty mud mix, and that formed in the geologically recent past," Ruesch said. For more details on this study, see: http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/ceres-cryo-volcano Ceres: Between a Rocky and Icy Place While Ahuna Mons may have erupted liquid water in the past, Dawn has detected water in the present, as described in a study led by Jean-Philippe Combe of the Bear Fight Institute, Winthrop, Washington. Combe and colleagues used Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) to detect probable water ice at Oxo Crater, a small, bright, sloped depression at mid-latitudes on Ceres. Exposed water-ice is rare on Ceres, but the low density of Ceres, the impact-generated flows and the very existence of Ahuna Mons suggest that Ceres' crust does contain a significant component of water-ice. This is consistent with a study of Ceres' diverse geological features led by Harald Hiesinger of the Westf?lische Wilhelms-Universit?t, M?nster, Germany. The diversity of geological features on Ceres is further explored in a study led by Debra Buczkowski of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland. Impact craters are clearly the most abundant geological feature on Ceres, and their different shapes help tell the intricate story of Ceres' past. Craters that are roughly polygonal -- that is, shapes bounded by straight lines -- hint that Ceres' crust is heavily fractured. In addition, several Cerean craters have patterns of visible fractures on their floors. Some, like tiny Oxo, have terraces, while others, such as the large Urvara Crater (106 miles, 170 kilometers wide), have central peaks. There are craters with flow-like features, and craters that imprint on other craters, as well as chains of small craters. Bright areas are peppered across Ceres, with the most reflective ones in Occator Crater. Some crater shapes could indicate water-ice in the subsurface. The dwarf planet's various crater forms are consistent with an outer shell for Ceres that is not purely ice or rock, but rather a mixture of both -- a conclusion reflected in other analyses. Scientists also calculated the ratio of various craters' depths to diameters, and found that some amount of crater relaxation must have occurred. Additionally, there are more craters in the northern hemisphere of Ceres than the south, where the large Urvara and Yalode craters are the dominant features. "The uneven distribution of craters indicates that the crust is not uniform, and that Ceres has gone through a complex geological evolution," Hiesinger said. Distribution of Surface Materials What are the rocky materials in Ceres' crust? A study led by Eleonora Ammannito of the University of California, Los Angeles, finds that clay-forming minerals called phyllosilicates are all over Ceres. These phyllosilicates are rich in magnesium and also have some ammonium embedded in their crystalline structure. Their distribution throughout the dwarf planet's crust indicates Ceres' surface material has been altered by a global process involving water. Although Ceres' phyllosilicates are uniform in their composition, there are marked differences in how abundant these materials are on the surface. For example, phyllosilicates are especially prevalent in the region around the smooth, "pancake"-like crater Kerwan (174 miles, 280 kilometers in diameter), and less so at Yalode Crater (162 miles, 260 kilometers in diameter), which has areas of both smooth and rugged terrain around it. Since Kerwan and Yalode are similar in size, this may mean that the composition of the material into which they impacted may be different. Craters Dantu and Haulani both formed recently in geologic time, but also seem to differ in composition. "In comparing craters such as Dantu and Haulani, we find that their different material mixtures could extend beneath the surface for miles, or even tens of miles in the case of the larger Dantu," Ammannito said. Looking Higher Now in its extended mission, the Dawn spacecraft has delivered a wealth of images and other data from its current perch at 240 miles (385 kilometers) above Ceres' surface, which is closer to the dwarf planet than the International Space Station is to Earth. The spacecraft will be increasing its altitude at Ceres on Sept. 2, as scientists consider questions that can be examined from higher up. Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of mission participants, visit: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission More information about Dawn is available at the following sites: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov http://www.nasa.gov/dawn News Media Contact Elizabeth Landau Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6425 elizabeth.landau at jpl.nasa.gov 2016-229 ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2016 20:47:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Ron Baalke <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com (Meteorite Mailing List) Subject: [meteorite-list] NASA Approves 2018 Launch of Mars InSight Mission Message-ID: <201609190347.u8J3l5dm020060 at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6612 NASA Approves 2018 Launch of Mars InSight Mission Jet Propulsion Laboratory September 2, 2016 NASA is moving forward with a spring 2018 launch of its InSight mission to study the deep interior of Mars, following final approval this week by the agency's Science Mission Directorate. The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission was originally scheduled to launch in March of this year, but NASA suspended launch preparations in December due to a vacuum leak in its prime science instrument, the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS). The new launch period for the mission begins May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018. The next launch opportunity is driven by orbital dynamics, so 2018 is the soonest the lander can be on its way. "Our robotic scientific explorers such as InSight are paving the way toward an ambitious journey to send humans to the Red Planet," said Geoff Yoder, acting associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in Washington. "It's gratifying that we are moving forward with this important mission to help us better understand the origins of Mars and all the rocky planets, including Earth." The SEIS instrument -- designed to measure ground movements as small as half the radius of a hydrogen atom -- requires a perfect vacuum seal around its three main sensors in order to withstand harsh conditions on the Red Planet. Under what's known as the mission "replan," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, will be responsible for redesigning, developing and qualifying the instrument's evacuated container and the electrical feedthroughs that failed previously. France's space agency, the Centre National d'?tudes Spatiales (CNES), will focus on developing and delivering the key sensors for SEIS, integration of the sensors into the container, and the final integration of the instrument onto the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is contributing the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) to InSight's science payload. NASA's budget for InSight was $675 million. The instrument redesign and two-year delay add $153.8 million. The additional cost will not delay or cancel any current missions, though there may be fewer opportunities for new missions in future years, from fiscal years 2017-2020. InSight's primary goal is to help us understand how rocky planets formed and evolved. Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, said, "We've concluded that a replanned InSight mission for launch in 2018 is the best approach to fulfill these long-sought, high-priority science objectives." CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall added, "This confirmation of the launch plan for InSight is excellent news and an unparalleled opportunity to learn more about the internal structure of the Red Planet, which is currently of major interest to the international science community." The InSight Project is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, which is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. News Media Contact Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077 dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov / laura.l.cantillo at nasa.gov ------------------------------ Subject: Digest Footer _______________________________________________ Visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ------------------------------ End of Meteorite-list Digest, Vol 163, Issue 22 *********************************************** Received on Mon 19 Sep 2016 01:33:40 PM PDT |
StumbleUpon del.icio.us Yahoo MyWeb |