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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1984

Experimental and theoretical study of the formation of the 2AB, 3AB, and 9A meteorite chemical groups from the parent liquid

Segregation of solute elements was measured in plane front solidified Fe-Ni-S-P alloys of meteoritic composition containing Ir, Ge and/or Cu. The Ni and P contents reach maximum values of 10.5 wt% and 1.1 wt%, respectively, in austenite (taenite) at the end of primary solidification. Distribution coefficients of Ni, P, Ir, Ge and Cu were determined from the solidified alloys. The distribution coefficients vary with the S and P content of the liquid. In addition the distribution coefficients of Ni, P, Ir and Ge increase and the distribution coefficient of Cu decreases with the S to P ratio. Equations that describe the concentration dependence of the distribution coefficients were developed and used to calculate solute redistribution during the solidification of IIAB, IIIAB and IVA parent bodies. The calculated P vs Ni, Ir vs Ni and Ge vs Ni trends are in good agreement with the observed meteoritic data. Since the calculated value of the maximum solid solubility of P agrees well with the observed maximum P composition data for IIAB and IIIAB irons, it is concluded that complete crystallization of the parent liquids of IIAB and IIIAB had occurred before any fragmentation of the solidified body.

Sellamuthu, R.↗
NASA NTRS1987

The distribution of evaporitic weathering products on Antarctic meteorites

White evaporite deposits of terrestrial origin occur on some 5 percent of Antarctic meteorites. The few previous studies, and new mineralogical analyses, indicate that the deposits are predominately carbonates and/or sulfates of magnesium. The distribution of white evaporitic salt deposits differs among different meteorite compositional groups and weathering categories. Salts occur with unusual frequency on carbonaceous chondrites, and are especially common in carbonaceous chondrites of weathering categories A and B. Among achondrites, weathering categories A and A/B show the most examples of salt weathering. Unlike carbonaceous chondrites and achrondites, most salt-bearing ordinary (H and L) chondrites are from rustier meteorites of weathering categories B, and to a lesser degree, B/C and C. The LL chondrites are conspicuous by their complete lack or any salt-weathering product. Almost two-thirds of all evaporite-bearing meteorites belong to weathering categories, A, A/B, and B. Where chemical and/or mineralogical data are available, there is a persistent suggestion that evaporite formation is accompanied by elemental redistribution from meteorite interiors. Meteorites of weathering categories B, A/B, and even A may have experienced significant element redistribution and/or contamination as a result of terrestrial exposure.

Velbel, Michael A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

On the Abundances of Moderately Volatile Elements in Meteorites

The abundances of the moderately volatile elements (those which condense or evaporate in the temperature range 650-1350 K) in chondritic meteorites deviate from solar (or 'cosmic', as defined by CI meteorite composition) in a manner that strongly suggests that they were determined primarily by volatility, independent of chemical affinity. Wasson and collaborators have long argued that the observed correlation of relative abundance with condensation temperature reflects a systematically selective process which favored the accretion of refractory material over volatile material from a nebula cooling from a hot initial state. This view is supported by the detailed examination of chondrules and matrix in carbonaceous meteorites and the contrast between meteorite trace element abundance patterns with those produced in heating experiments. However, the idea that the moderately volatile abundances reflect global condensation has not previously been quantitatively tested or used as a constraint on nebula evolution. We have therefore constructed models of the solar nebula designed specifically for addressing meteoritic data. Calculations so far indicate that the abundance patterns of the moderately volatile elements in chondritic meteorites can be produced naturally in an evolving nebula that cools with the reduction in opacity associated with the accumulation of meteoritic bodies. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Cassen, Pat↗
NASA NTRS1988

Carbonates and sulfates in CI chondrites - Formation by aqueous activity on the parent body

Compositions and morphologies of dolomites, breunnerites, Ca-carbonates, Ca-sulfates and Mg, Ni, Na-sulfates, and their petrologic interrelations, in four CI chondrites are consistent with their having been formed by aqueous activity on the CI parent body. Radiochronometric data indicate that this activity took place very early in solar-system history. No evidence for original ('primitive') condensates seems to be present. However, alteration apparently took place without change in bulk meteorite composition.

Fredriksson, Kurt↗
NASA NTRS1967

Marburg - A new pallasite.

Crystalline variation and chemical composition of meteorite found at Marburg, West Germany

METEORITIC COMPOSITION↗
NASA NTRS1972

The present thermal state of the terrestrial planets

The thermal state of bodies is discussed as an aspect of their internal dynamics for bodies of roughly meteoritic composition in the range of sizes of planetary objects. The rheological behaviour of planetary material is assumed to be represented by a Newtonian viscosity varying exponentially with temperature, and only the consistency of this assumption with the elastic view of the planets is considered. It is shown that for the whole range of physically plausible values of the material parameters, the temperature distribution associated with a solution to the problem of internal dynamics for bodies with external radii larger than about 800 km departs significantly from that predicted on conduction theory arguments. For bodies in the range of sizes of the terrestrial planets, the viscosity-temperature relationship plays a dominant role in setting the absolute temperature of the central regions.

Tozer, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Grossular in the Allende /Type III carbonaceous/ meteorite

Grossular garnet has been observed in several white inclusions in the Allende meteorite. Compositions range from Gro(95)Py(5) to Gro(88)Py(12) in five inclusions. Its mottled appearance indicates that it crystallized from a glass of near-grossular composition and not by a solid-state reaction between wollastonite, anorthite, and melilite. These grossular-bearing inclusions either condensed directly as metastable liquids from the solar nebula or, if initial solid condensates were liquefied, by some subsequent heating process. In either case, a prolonged residence time in a thermal blanket appears necessary to effect crystallization of the grossular.

Fuchs, L. H.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Microcrater investigations on lunar rock 12002

Relative ages of 26 submillimeter-sized pits from an equilibrium population in rock 12002 were measured by determining the densities of pits 0.7 microns in diameter and larger on the submillimeter-sized pits. Production rates for 0.7 micron diameter pits were determined from solar-flare track exposure age measurements, and the data for rock 12002 are consistent with previously obtained data for sample 15205 if a lower meteoroid flux prevailed in the past. Metal mounds or spherules within a microcrater pit glass were found to have a meteoritic composition, and an impact lining consisting of protruding crystals was observed. The crystals apparently developed during exposure to space immediately after the 200-micron diameter pit was formed by impact into an olivine grain.

Hartung, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The record of impact on earth - Implications for a major Cretaceous/Tertiary impact event

Cratering mechanics suggests that if the proposed Cretaceous-Tertiary impact event occurred in the ocean, it may have been able to locally excavate the oceanic crust and bring upper mantle material to the surface, thereby creating a geophysical anomaly that has yet to be detected. If the siderophile enrichments in the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary layer denote projectile-contaminated ejecta from a major impact, the source of this material will probably be ejecta which had been accelerated upwards as the projectile penetrated the target rocks. The difficulties in defining projectile types from the siderophile anomalies in the relatively well known environment of impact melt rocks suggest that more detailed geochemistry and mineralogy will be needed before the siderophile enrichments at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary can be linked to a specific meteoritic compositional class.

Grieve, R. A. F.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The mechanics of large meteoroid impacts in the earth's oceans

The sequence of events subsequent to the impact of a large meteoroid in an ocean differs in several respects from an impact on land. Even if the meteoroid is large enough to produce a crater on the sea floor (that is, larger than a few km in diameter), the presence of water affects the character of the early-time events. The principal difference between land and oceanic impacts is the expansion of shock-vaporized water following an oceanic impact. A steam explosion follows the meteoroid's deposition of energy in the target. Shocked water expands from an initial pressure of 3 to 6 Mbar for 20-30 km/second impacts, ejecting water vapor and dust from the vaporized meteoroid several hundred km into the atmosphere. The violent vapor plume thus formed may explain how dust with a dominantly meteoritic composition can be dispersed to form a world-wide dust layer, as required by the Alvarez hypothesis.

Melosh, H. J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Magnetic field amplification and generation in hypervelocity meteoroid impacts with application to lunar paleomagnetism

A one-dimensional numerical model for the expansion of impact-produced vapor clouds is used to investigate magnetic field generation mechanisms in events such as meteor collisions with the moon. The resulting cloud properties, such as ionization fraction, electrical conductivity, radial expansion velocity, mass density, and energy density are estimated. The model is initiated with the peak shock states and pressure thresholds for incipient and complete vaporization of anorthosite lunar surface materials by iron and GA composition meteorites. The expansion of the spherical gas cloud into a vacuum was traced with a one-dimensional explicit lagrangian hydrodynamic code. The hypervelocity impact plasmas produced are found to be significant in the amplitudes and orientations of the magnetic fields generated. An ambient magnetic field could have been provided by the core dynamo, which would have interacted with the expanding plasmas and formed induced paleomagnetic fields. Several other field-contribution mechanisms are discussed and discarded as potential remanent magnetism contributors.

Hood, L. L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Infrared (2.08-14 micron) spectra of powered stony meteorites

Infrared biconical reflectance spectra of 60 powdered meteorite samples, representing 50 different stony meteorites, were measured as analogues of asteroidal regolith. Representative samples were measured in directional hemispherical reflectance to assure that Kirchhoff's Law can be used to predict relative emissivity from the reflectance spectra. These spectral data confirm that the O-H fundamental absorption band near 2.9 microns is an extremely sensitive indicator of incipient alteration, which often has taken place in powdered meteorite samples exposed only to water vapor in the air. Such non-carbonaceous samples typically contain less than 1 percent water by weight. Likewise, the C-H fundamental absorption bands near 3.4 and 3.5 microns are equally sensitive indicators of contamination with volatile hydrocarbons, which can also be absorbed from the air. The heavy, macromolecular hydrocarbons native to chondrites do not display such heavy bands, making detection of these bands in remote sensing of asteroids unlikely. Despite the spectral artifacts introduced by alteration and hydrocarbon contamination, powdered stony meteorites display a wide variety of real spectral features that can be used for their identification, including residual reststrahlen bands, absorption bands, and the Christiansen feature. Researchers found that the wavelengths of the peaks or troughs of each of these spectral features can be used independently to infer meteorite composition, but the best results are obtained when the entire spectral curve is used, or at least the portion of it encompassed by the 8 to 14 micron atmospheric window, in a digital search library.

Salisbury, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Asteroid resources

There are three types of possible asteroidal materials that appear to be attractive for exploitation: (1) volatiles, (2) free metals, and (3) bulk dirt. Because some of the near-Earth asteroids are energetically more accessible than the Moon (require a round-trip total change in velocity less than 9 km/sec, though the trip time would be measured in years not days), such an asteroid might be chosen as the source of any useful material, even if that material was also available on the Moon. Provided that the asteroid was minable, it might therefore be chosen as the source of bulk dirt needed for shielding in low Earth orbit (LEO) or elsewhere in near-Earth space. And the near-Earth asteroids may offer materials that are rare or absent on the surface of the Moon. The relationship between asteroids and meteorites is discussed. A brief overview of the entire range of meteorite compositions, with emphasis on the occurrence of interesting resources is presented. Focus is on materials useful in space, especially volatiles, metals, and raw dirt. Those few materials that may have sufficiently high market value to be worth returning to Earth will be mentioned.

Lewis, John S.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Calculated mineral precipitation upon evaporation of a model Martian groundwater near 0 C

Previously, the effect of weathering a basalt of Shergotty meteorite composition with pure water buffered at martian atmospheric values of CO2 and O2, to place constraints upon the composition of martian groundwater, and to determine possible equilibrium mineral assemblages was calculated. A revised calculation of the composition of the aqueous phase in the weathering reaction as a function of the amount of basalt titrated into the solution is shown. The concentrations of sulfate and chloride ions increase in the solution from high water/rock ratios (w/r) on the left to low water/rock ratios on the right, until at w/r = 1, where 1 kg of basalt has been titrated, sulfate concentration is 1564 ppm and chloride is 104 ppm. This resulting fluid is dominated by sulfate and sodium, with bicarbonate and chloride at about the same concentration. This solution was evaporated in an attempt to determine if the resulting evaporite can explain the Viking XRF data. The program CHILLER was used to evaporate this solution at 0.1 C.

Debraal, J. D.↗