A physical model for tektites of meteoritic origin. 1 - Analysis of data and phenomenological basis
Shock formation of tektites during meteor impact on earth
Remo, J. L.↗
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Interplanetary dust - Possible implications for comets and presolar interstellar grains
Interplanetary dust is important to studies of the origin of the solar system because it is material from comets and asteroids, the smallest surviving bodies from the early solar system. The fact that comets are the major suppliers of the millimeter meteoroids which produce optical meteors suggests that a significant fraction of the submillimeter portion of the meteoroid complex is also cometary material. While comets are probably the major source, it is important to remember that the dust presently impacting the earth was probably generated by a number of different parent bodies. The collection of interplanetary dust is considered and a description is presented of the physical properties of interplanetary dust, taking into account the structure, elemental composition, and mineralogy.
Brownlee, D. E.↗
Impact-melt origin for the Simondium, Pinnaroo, and Hainholz mesosiderites - Implications for impact processes beyond the earth-moon system
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Floran, R. J.↗
In Situ Propellant Production for improved sample return mission performance
In Situ Propellant Production (ISPP) on the surface of a target body is evaluated as a potential way to relax sample return mass constraints and to improve mission performance. Utilization of an oxygen/methane bipropellant combination for primary outbound and return propulsion has a significant favorable impact upon Earth escape requirements. A small sample can be returned from Mars using a single Shuttle/IUS(Twin) launch. Performance and design data are presented for the Mars mission. For sample returns from selected Galilean satellites, launch requirements are reduced by fifteen to forty percent. An assessment is made of overall utility of ISPP to planetary missions.
Stancati, M. L.↗
Occurrence of giant impacts during the growth of the terrestrial planets
Three dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of the accumulation of the terrestrial planets in the absence of gas drag produced results that are in general agreement with the number and distribution of the present planets. The accumulation process appears to be characterized by impact of bodies as large as three times the mass of Mars at velocities of about 9 kilometers per second. These giant impacts on earth may have supplied the material and angular momentum that formed the moon, should have heated earth to the melting point, and may have been responsible for the differences in the content of inert gases of the atmospheres of earth and Venus.
Wetherill, G. W.↗
Impact experimentation and the microgravity environment: An overview
Impact is an ubiquitous physical process in the solar system. It occurs on all solid bodies and operates over a spectrum of scales, influencing geologic processes ranging from accretion, the early evolution of planetary bodies, the petrogenetic and spatial relations of lunar samples, the surface characteristics and interpretation of spectral data of asteroidal bodies, to the nature of some meteorites. Understanding impact phenomena is therefore paramount in constraining and underpinning a large number of research efforts into fundamental planetary geology. Gravity is an important parameter in impact processes. The physical environment offered by the Space Station represents an unique opportunity to extend the experimental aspect of impact studies into the microgravity (less than 1 g) regime. Through the use of free floating targets, it may be possible to explore in detail phenomena associated with the collision of bodies. Such experiments can address questions regarding early and late accretional processes, catastrophic disruption and asteroidal evolution, as well as the effects of large impacts on the momentum and spin of the target bodies. The last question is of considerable topical interest with respect to the hypothesized origin of the moon by a Mars-sized impact on Earth.
Grieve, R. A. F.↗
Structural deformation of the Leoville chondrite
A petrofabric study of the Leoville chondrite was performed in order to gain an understanding of its deformation process. Strain values were determined from the chondrules' axial ratios or by the all-object-separation method, and the compaction required to deform Leoville chondrules was calculated from the decrease of radius in the circle-to-ellipse transformation. Structural and strain studies indicate the following order of events experienced by Leoville: (1) formation as an accretionary breccia, (2) compaction and development of foliation, (3) fracturing, possibly due to impact on earth, and (4) terrestrial weathering. Similarities between the axial ratios of chondrules (1.9-2.0) and of the whole meteorite (2.0) indicate either that Leoville deformed homogeneously or that it deformed as a framework of touching chondrules. This amount of strain corresponds to approximately 33 percent uniaxial shortening, assuming constant volume, and is likely to have been caused by compaction due to overburden from progressive accretion on the chondrite body. Diffusional flow is believed to be the mechanism by which olivines in these chondrules deformed.
Cain, P. M.↗
Comment
Frank et al.'s (1986) suggestion that the earth is impacted by small (100-Mg) comets at the rate of 20/min is reconsidered in the light of recent comet models. The possibility of such a swarm of comets is found to be problematical because of the large number of comets required and because thermal stability arguments, while not excluding such a possibility, imply that it is implausible. In a reply, Frank et al. reaffirm their findings that such small comets, following direct elliptical orbits about the sun, are distributed in a disk centered on the sun and lying near the ecliptic plane at heliocentric radial distances 1-10,000 AU. The presence of these comets in the inner solar system is attributed to the gravitational action of the outer planets, passing stars, or interstellar clouds on comets is more distant orbits.
Mckay, C. P.↗
Communication satellite technology trends
A chronology of space-Earth interconnectivity is presented. The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) system, Land Mobile Satellite, space-Earth antennas, impact of antenna size on coverage, intersatellite links are outlined. This presentation is represented by graphs and charts only.
Cuccia, Louis↗
Early intense cratering: Effects on growth of earth's crust
The disrupting effects of early intense meteorite bombardment on Earth's protocrustal evolution is discussed. The author emphasized that one should not consider the Earth's impact history as a discrete phase separate from an early crust forming event, and also that the end of the impacts was not a singular event that destroyed all previously formed crust.
Hartmann, William K.↗
Periodicity of extinction: A 1988 update
The hypothesis that events of mass extinction recur periodically at approximately 26 my intervals is an empirical claim based on analysis of data from the fossil record. The hypothesis has become closely linked with catastrophism because several events in the periodic series are associated with evidence of extraterrestrial impacts, and terrestrial forcing mechanisms with long, periodic recurrences are not easily conceived. Astronomical mechanisms that have been hypothesized include undetected solar companions and solar oscillation about the galactic plane, which induce comet showers and result in impacts on Earth at regular intervals. Because these mechanisms are speculative, they have been the subject of considerable controversy, as has the hypothesis of periodicity of extinction. In response to criticisms and uncertainties, a data base was developed on times of extinction of marine animal genera. A time series is given and analyzed with 49 sample points for the per-genus extinction rate from the Late Permian to the Recent. An unexpected pattern in the data is the uniformity of magnitude of many of the periodic extinction events. Observations suggest that the sequence of extinction events might be the result of two sets of mechanisms: a periodic forcing that normally induces only moderate amounts of extinction, and independent incidents or catastrophes that, when coincident with the periodic forcing, amplify its signal and produce major-mass extinctions.
Sepkowski, J. John, Jr.↗
Accumulation of Mercury from planetesimals
Calculations of 19 new Monte Carlo simulations of terrestrial planet growth were used in a study of the accumulation history of Mercury-size bodies. Three cases are presented, involving different assumptions regarding the initial state of the final stage of planetary accumulation and the degree and the ease with which planets can be collisionally disrupted. It is found that the same conditions that lead to Mars-size giant impacts on earth and Venus imply a more catastrophic fragmentation history for a Mercury-size bodies and the fragments from which it accumulated. It is also found that the terrestrial planets, including Mercury, will accumulate material originating over the entire terrestrial planet range of heliocentric distances.
Wetherill, G. W.↗
Jetting and the origin of tektites
The scientific consensus is that tektites were produced by impacts on the Earth, but the exact mechanism by impacts might form tektites is still unclear. The most widely cited mechanism is jetting, which results from the extremely high pressures generated at the intersection of two bodies whose surfaces converge obliquely at high speed. Theory of jetting for thin plates is extended to the case of the impact of the sphere onto a half-space. The calculations are done for the impact of a silicate sphere onto a silicate target for impact speeds of 15, 20, and 25 km/sec, spanning the range of reasonable impact speeds for asteroids. The angle of impact is varied from 0 to 75 deg. The mass jetted, the jet velocity, projectile fraction in the jet, azimuthal distribution of the jet, and the phase of the jetted material are calculated as functions of time. The total mass jetted and the overall mass-averages of jet velocity, etc. are also calculated.
Vickery, A. M.↗
Dynamics and evolution of a magma ocean
The prevailing view of very large impacts during earth accretion suggests an initial state for earth evolution that was totally molten or nearly so. The problem confronted is to understand the evolution from this state to an almost completely solidified mantle. Two crucial questions are asked by the author: (1) is the resulting endstate of magma ocean freezing compatible with geological record, inferred mantle structure and evidence from geochemistry; and (2) does the freezing event leave a signature that can be discerned in the present earth. The emphasis on this keynote introduction will be to set the stage for the more detailed analyses to follow and to clarify the crucial questions and uncertainties.
Stevenson, D. J.↗
Analysis of impactor residues in tray clamps from the Long Duration Exposure Facility. Part 1: Clamps from Bay A of the satellite
The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was placed in low Earth orbit (LEO) in 1984 and was recovered 5.7 years later. The LDEF was host to several individual experiments that were specifically designed to characterize critical aspects of meteoroid and debris environment in LEO. It was realized from the beginning, however, that the most efficient use of the satellite would be to examine the entire surface of the Earth for impact features. In this regard, particular interest has centered on common exposed materials that faced in all LDEF pointing directions. Among the most important of these materials is the tray clamps. Therefore, in an effort to understand the nature of particulates in LEO and their effects on spacecraft hardware better, we are analyzing residues found in impact features on LDEF tray clamp surfaces. This catalog presents all data from clamps from Bay A of the LDEF. Subsequent catalogs will include clamps from succeeding bays of the satellite.
Zolensky, Michael E.↗
Modulating terrestrial impacts from Oort cloud comets by the adiabatically changing galactic tides
Time modulation of the flux of new Jupiter-dominated Oort cloud comets is the subject of interest here. The major perturbation of these comets during the present epoch is due to the tidal field of the relatively smooth distribution of matter in the galactic disk. A secondary source of the near-parabolic comet flux are stars penetrating the inner Oort cloud and providing impulses that create brief comet showers. Substantial stellar-induced showers occur approximately every 100 m.y. Less frequent (but stronger) impulses due to giant molecular clouds can also perturb comets from the inner cloud. These occur on timescales of approximately equal to 500 m.y. In contrast to these infrequent stochastic shower phenomena is the continuously varying tidal-induced flux due to the galaxy. As the Sun orbits the galactic center it undergoes quasiharmonic motion about the galactic midplane, which is superimposed on the small eccentricity, near-Keplerian motion in the plane having epicycle period approximately equal to 150 m.y. In the process the galactic tidal field on the Sun/cloud system will vary causing a modulation of the observable Oort cloud flux. We have created a model of the galactic matter distribution as it affects the solar motion over a time interval ranging from 300 m.y. in the past to 100 m.y. into the future. As constraints on the disk's compact dark matter component we require consistency with the following: (1) the observed galactic rotation curve, (2) today's flux distribution of new comets, (3) the studies of K-giant distributions, and (4) the periodicity found in the terrestrial cratering record. The adiabatically varying galactic tidal torque is then determined and used to predict the time dependence of the flux. We find that a model in which approximately half the disk matter is compact is consistent with these constraints. Under such circumstances the peak-to-trough flux variation will be approx. equal to 5:1 with a full width of 9 m.y. This variability will manifest in the terrestrial cratering record and is consistent with the observed cratering periodicity, if over half of the impacts on Earth are caused by comets or asteroids that originate in the outer Oort cloud.
Matese, J. J.↗
Conference on Deep Earth and Planetary Volatiles
The following topics are covered in the presented papers: (1) rare gases systematics and mantle structure; (2) volatiles in the earth; (3) impact degassing of water and noble gases from silicates; (4) D/H ratios and H2O contents of mantle-derived amphibole megacrysts; (5) thermochemistry of dense hydrous magnesium silicates; (6) modeling of the effect of water on mantle rheology; (7) noble gas isotopes and halogens in volatile-rich inclusions in diamonds; (8) origin and loss of the volatiles of the terrestrial planets; (9) structure and the stability of hydrous minerals at high pressure; (10) recycling of volatiles at subduction zones and various other topics.
Source record↗
Leonid Storm Flux Analysis From One Leonid MAC Video AL50R
A detailed meteor flux analysis is presented of a seventeen-minute portion of one videotape, collected on November 18, 1999, during the Leonid Multi-instrument Aircraft Campaign. The data was recorded around the peak of the Leonid meteor storm using an intensified CCD camera pointed towards the low southern horizon. Positions of meteors on the sky were measured. These measured meteor distributions were compared to a Monte Carlo simulation, which is a new approach to parameter estimation for mass ratio and flux. Comparison of simulated flux versus observed flux levels, seen between 1:50:00 and 2:06:41 UT, indicate a magnitude population index of r = 1.8 +/- 0.1 and mass ratio of s = 1.64 +/- 0.06. The average spatial density of the material contributing to the Leonid storm peak is measured at 0.82 +/- 0.19 particles per square kilometer per hour for particles of at least absolute visual magnitude +6.5. Clustering analysis of the arrival times of Leonids impacting the earth's atmosphere over the total observing interval shows no enhancement or clumping down to time scales of the video frame rate. This indicates a uniformly random temporal distribution of particles in the stream encountered during the 1999 epoch. Based on the observed distribution of meteors on the sky and the model distribution, recommendations am made for the optimal pointing directions for video camera meteor counts during future ground and airborne missions.
Gural, Peter S.↗