Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

I. A. Franchi

Publications and source records attributed to I. A. Franchi.

Coordinated Analysis of Phosphates in Samples From Asteroid (101955) Bennu

Asteroid (101955) Bennu is a B-type asteroid and a prime candidate for investigating the remnants of planet formation and enhancing our understanding of potential sources of crucial bio-essential elements for the early Earth. Remote observations of the surface of Bennu unveiled a terrain of boulders primarily composed of hydrated phyllosilicates, organic molecules, and carbonates. The hydrated nature of Bennu, the abundance of carbonates, and the presence of cm-scale carbonate veins provide clues to the nature of the building blocks of Bennu’s parent body and to its complex geological history. Here we present the first mineralogical, chemical, and isotopic results of analysis of phosphates in samples returned from Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. We seek to test the hypothesis that heating of Bennu’s parent asteroid resulted in hydrothermal alteration in which melted ice reacted with the initial constituents.

J. J. Barnes↗

Bulk Oxygen Isotope Composition of Aggregate Samples From Asteroid Bennu Returned By OSIRIS-REx

On 24 September 2023, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft delivered to Earth material collected from the surface of the B-type asteroid Bennu. During its ~2.5-year encounter with the asteroid, OSIRIS-REx made many important discoveries, including establishing its extremely primitive chemical composition, the presence of at least two lithologies, and evidence of fluid flow on its parent asteroid. One of the driving hypotheses of the Sample Analysis Plan is that Bennu’s dominant lithologies are comparable to the most aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrites. Oxygen three-isotope analysis is a powerful tool for defining the relationship between different meteorite groups and can be used to understand the nature of the returned Bennu samples. The O isotope signatures reflect the materials that parent asteroids accreted from and the geological processes that operated during asteroidal evolution. Aggregate samples of particles (typically <500 μm) likely sampled many different larger stones and boulders, and their composition may therefore represent the average composition of Bennu. Fractionation of the sample, e.g. comparison of aliquots of finer material with coarser particles within the aggregate samples, offers the opportunity to identify different isotopic reservoirs within the returned material. The average O isotope composition will also provide a baseline from which to identify and characterize any exogenous clasts present in the sample.

I. A. Franchi↗

Carbon and Nitrogen Abundance, Distribution, and Isotopic Composition in Samples of Asteroid (101955) Bennu

Material from the B-type carbonaceous asteroid (101955) Bennu was returned on September 24, 2023, by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. The mission brought back the largest sample of pristine primordial asteroidal material, largely free from the challenges of terrestrial contamination that are common in meteorite studies. The Bennu sample thus provides a unique source of material to investigate the abundance and isotopic signatures of C and N. The specific hypotheses tested by these analyses are whether Bennu contains macromolecular material and/or presolar grains similar to the populations found in CI and CM chondrites and recently returned samples from Ryugu.

M. M. Grady↗

Organic Matter in Itokawa Particles

The first Hayabusa mission returned samples from the near-Earth S-type asteroid 25143 Itokawa to Earth in 2010[1]. Although Itokawa has a lithology related to ordinary chondrites(OCs) that typically have low organic contents, several Itokawa particles were found to contain organic matter (OM)[2-5]. However, there was not an explicit conclusion to the origin of the observed OMin these early studies. We have extended our search for OM into other Itokawa grains. Here, we report extraterrestrial OM (macromolecular carbon and amino acids) observed in six Itokawa particles(including a category1 particle: RA-QD02-0162[#62; also nicknamed “Amazon”],and five category3 carbon-rich particles:RA-QD02-0012[#12], RA-QD02-0078[#78], RB-CV-0029[#29], RB-CV-0080 [#80] and RB-QD04-0052[#52]).All allocated Itokawa samples were initially analysed by spot and point-by-point mapping Raman spectroscopic analysis at the Open University, UK. Amazon was then transferred and mounted into indium on an aluminium stub, which was studied with a NanoSIMS 50L ion microprobe for its H,C,N isotopic compositions. The rest of the samples were mounted in sterile gold foils, and the amino acid contents of their acid hydrolysed hot water extracts were obtained with a liquid chromatography with tandem fluorescence and accurate mass detection at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA. Based on the observation of the Raman parameters(e.g. the peak locations and widths of the defect (D) and graphite (G) bands)[6], a significant variety of carbonaceous materials has been observed in Amazon. The carbonaceous materials include primitive and unaltered OM that shares similarity with the IOM in primitive (CI,CM,CR) carbonaceous chondrites, as well as OM that has been heavily graphitised. The organic structure of the heated material is best represented by nanocrystalline graphite, comparable to that observed for metamorphosed meteorites (e.g., L3–6 Inman, Tieschitz and New Concord,CV3 Allende, and EH4 Indarch),suggesting peak metamorphic temperatures (PMT) of >~600°C. The thermal history recorded in the graphitic OM agrees with PMT estimates for returned Itokawa regolith grains (600–800°C)[7].We have obtained the H,C,N isotopic compositions for the primitive OM in Amazon, which exhibits unambiguously extraterrestrial isotopic signatures (δD = +4868±2288‰; δ13C = −24±5‰; δ15N = +344±20‰), contrasting to the typically negative isotopic values obtained for terrestrial organic matter[8]. The δD and δ13C values of the organic material in Amazon are comparable to OCs, however, the δ15N value is higher than that typically observed for OCs (δ15N = −47 to +36‰), and is similar to that of CRs (δ15N = +153 to +309‰)[9].Our data suggest a genetic link between the primitive organic material observed in Itokawa to CRs and IDPs for they share similar D, 13C and 15N enrichments[10].The high carbon contents of the five category 3 Itokawa particles suggest potentially higher OM abundances, hence we extracted and analysed amino acids in these samples. Although terrestrial contamination was observed primarily as L-protein amino acids, several terrestrially uncommon non-protein amino acids were also observed at low abundances, such as β-aminoisobutyric acid (β-AIB),β-amino-n-butyric acid (β-ABA), and β-alanine. Itokawa amino acid content observed here was dissimilar to thermally altered OCs, but preliminarily analogous to more aqueously altered CR2s.Continued evolution of Itokawa is evident by the in fall of primitive organic material derived from CRs/IDPs, accounting for a complex interplay between the remnant Itokawa silicates with exogenous organics. The results reported here are the first evidence of extraterrestrial OM in asteroid material from a sample-return mission, showcasing a working protocol for analysing samples returned by the Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx missions

Q. H. S. Chan↗