Derek Sears (NASA) at a LASER http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/nov2012.html

1. Sometimes Space Comes
to us: The Science of
Meteorites.
Derek Sears
Research Scientist
NASA Ames Research Center
LASER - 14th November 2012

3. Peekskill meteorite October 9, 1992

4. Basalt Meteorites from Vesta

5. Meteorites from Mars and the Moon

6. Meteorites from Primitive Asteroids
Ida
Gaspra
Mathilde
Steins
Eros

7. Asteroids Close Up

8. The 200-year Pathway to
Meteorite Classification

9. “Sunstuff”
4.6 Billion Years Old
Strange mixture

10. Formation of the Solar System

11. Meteorite Origins – So Many Problems
Formed in the Nebula Formed by Impact
• Too much Na etc. • Energetic melts lost
• Too much oxygen • Impact velocities not high
• Compound chondrules enough
• No evidence for existence in • Textures unlike crater rocks
space (cosmic ray • Where are the young ages?
tracks, solar wind products) • Oxygen isotope data
• Cooled slowly suggests highly diverse
reservoirs for components

12. Trying to Simulate
Asteroid Conditions
Difficult

13. Missions to Land, Collect, and Return Samples
are now Technically Feasible
NEAR on Eros on 2001
Hyabusa on Itokawa in 2005
OSIRIS Rex on
1999 RQ36 in 2018

14. To Read More
About It ……
$38.00 (paperback)
$164.00 (hard cover)