ISSUE NO. 5FALL 2008Newsletter

CMS Goes to Mars: The Mars Science LaboratoryFor the last four years, the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) have been finding evidence of past water in two different places on Mars, from hydrothermal spring-like environments to shallow seas spread among sand dunes. The ground truth of water on Mars provided by MER is important because if water shaped the Martian surface, it may have been available to support the formation and sustenance of life of Mars. While the MER robotic geologists have been making their important discoveries, NASA has been planning, designing and building the next generation rover, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) that will join them in 2010. Set to launch in Fall 2009, MSL is intended to take the next step in investigating the possibility of life on Mars. Beyond looking for evidence of water, MSL will assess habitability of one, yet-to-be-determined site on the Martian surface. Habitability is the potential of a Martian environment to support life, whether past or present, and the geology, chemistry and environmental conditions of a site all influence its habitability.

the rock. ChemCam derives chemistry by analyzing the resulting laser-produced flash. CheMin is a dual purpose instrument that provides both elemental chemistry data and identifies specific minerals present in the target. CheMin sits inside the rover body; thus, the rover arm was designed to scoop up or drill into targets and then deliver the material to CheMin. Also inside the rover is the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of instruments aimed at finding and analyzing elements important to life such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen and any organic compounds that contain these elements. SAM’s gas chromatograph will separate any mixture of organic compounds MSL finds into individual

MSL, which is roughly the size of a MINI Cooper and thus is significantly larger than MER (image, right), will carry a sophisticated suite of instruments that will work together to investigate all the factors that influence habitability. MSL will determine the major element chemistry of samples at its landing site with three very different instruments. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) sits in a small box at the end of the rover’s arm and analyzes the target of interest while in direct contact with it. ChemCam sits on top of the rover’s mast and fires a laser at the target of interest in order to vaporize a small portion of

Models of the MER (left), Pathfinder (center) and MSL (right) rovers (Image credit: NASA JPL)

Letter from the Director

CMS Administrative News Greetings on behalf of the Center for Meteorites Studies!

This Fall 2008 Newsletter brings you the latest news, developments and information on upcoming events at the CMS. As you may be aware, researchers in the Center are not only involved in studying meteorites but several of us are also actively participating in NASA spacecraft missions that will lead to a better understanding of the origin and evolution of our Solar System and planets. The feature article in this Newsletter focuses on one such NASA mission, the Mars Science Laboratory, and the Center’s contribution towards ensuring the success of this mission. As you will note from the section on new acquisitions, the Center’s curatorial staff has been very active during these last several months; the number of individual meteorites in the Center’s collection now exceeds 1600! Also, you will be glad to know that we have recently received a grant from ASU’s Women and Philanthropy program that will allow us to augment our educational activities through hands-on modules for school children and enhancements to our website content. Stay tuned for a progress report on these activities in future newsletters!

Meenakshi WadhwaDirector

Our M ission: The Arizona State University Center for Meteorite Studies, home to the world’s largest university-based meteorite collection, creates new knowledge about the origin of our planetary system through the study of meteorites so that we may understand the pathway to forming habitable worlds. The Center is dedicated to sharing this knowledge with students, educators and the general public by providing educational opportunities that expand awareness and understanding of the science of meteoritics. In support of its research and education activities, the Center aggressively pursues cutting edge conservation approaches for its existing meteorite collection, while also seeking new, significant meteorite samples, so that they may be made accessible to the local and international public and science community for posterity.Our Location: Bateman Physical Science Center C-wing, Room 139ASU Tempe CampusOur Hours: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm (closed on ASU holidays)http://meteorites.asu.edu

components for identification. The SAM mass spectrometer and tunable laser spectrometer will measure the molecular and isotopic composition of rock and atmospheric samples. MSL also will assess the present-day Martian environment using three different instruments. The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) serves as the rover’s weather station and also detects the level of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Martian surface. The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) measures high energy radiation reaching the Martian surface, which is important to quantify before any humans explore Mars. The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument looks for the signature of subsurface hydrogen, which would most likely result from the presence of water ice.

No rover is complete, however, without a full suite of cameras to act as the eyes of the mission. In addition to numerous engineering cameras that help the rover maneuver on Mars, MSL carries three science cameras. The Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) will put the landing site in context with its broader surroundings by taking pictures in ever-increasing detail as the rover approaches the Martian surface for landing. MARDI takes pictures from

CMS on MSL (continued)

CMS on MSL (continued)the time the rover enters the Martian atmosphere through its descent, first on a parachute and then on a device called a “sky crane” (image, right), which is essentially a jet backpack that gently slows MSL until it touches down on the Martian surface. The Mast Camera (MastCam) serves as the primary set of eyes for MSL and is capable of imaging targets from directly in front of the rover to the horizon in color stereo. The CCD’s that record MastCam’s images are built in the same way that commercial digital camera CCD’s are so that the pictures from MastCam will have the same colors as a picture from your own digital camera! Riding on the end of the rover arm, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) will give the rover a microscopic view of a target. MAHLI has color imaging and focus capabilities and white light LED’s for illuminating a

A large and diverse team of scientists is required to operate all the MSL instruments and interpret the data they return. CMS Director Meenakshi Wadhwa is a member of the MSL science team as a Co-Investigator on SAM and contributed to the proposal that led to SAM’s selection. CMS Assistant Director Michelle Minitti is a Co-Investigator on MAHLI. Minitti has been involved with numerous tasks from MAHLI’s inception in 2004, in particular managing the creation of the fluorescent portion of the calibration target.

Artist’s rendition of the MSL rover (bottom) descending to the Martian surface using the “sky crane” (top)

(image credit: NASA JPL)

target in shadow or at night. It also carries longwave ultraviolet (UV) LED’s much like a commercial blacklight for looking for fluorescent materials on Mars.

Minitti found this last task, the design of a piece of unique flight hardware from scratch, an exciting challenge. MAHLI requires a fluorescent calibration target because the functionality of its UV LED’s must be checked periodically while the rover explores Mars. The fluorescent target material had to be designed to glow brightly while illuminated by MAHLI’s fluorescent LED’s but also survive for at least two years (the nominal length of the MSL mission) under the harsh Martian surface conditions. Minitti investigated many possibilities, from fluorescent paints, to fluorescent pigments, to fluorescent materials that once flew on NASA’s Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). She ultimately partnered with Dr. Dan Britt of the University of Central Florida who was responsible for manufacturing color calibration targets on the last four landed Mars missions. Britt mixed a pigment Minitti located in her research with a silicone binder in the same process he used to create past calibration target materials. The resulting material not only has the requisite bright response under UV illumination, but it also successfully survived a long- duration test of its stability under Martian surface conditions. The successful design of MAHLI's fluorescent calibration target means that in 2010, the MSL rover will begin its exploration of Mars with a small, but bright, piece on board influenced by CMS.

CMS Collection News

The Center added an incredible variety of meteorites to the collection over the last several months, bringing the total number of meteorites in the collection to over 1610! Here are the lastest additions:

Buck Mountain Wash - H3-5 ordinary chondrite, Mohave, Arizona, findBholghati - Howardite, Orissa, India, fell 1905Cat Mountain - L5 ordinary chondrite, Pima County, Arizona, findCachari - Eucrite, Buenos Aires, Argentina, findChaves - Howardite, Vila Real, Portugal, fell 1925Davy (A) - L4 ordinary chondrite, De Witt County, Texas, findDavy (B) - H4 ordinary chondrite, De Witt County, Texas, findDawn (A) - H6 ordinary chondrite, Texas, findDingo Pup Donga - Ureilite, West Australia, findDyalpur - Ureilite, Uttar Pradesh, India, fell 1872Forestburg (A) - L4 ordinary chondrite, Montague County, Texas, findGoalpara - Ureilite, Assam, India, findIsheyevo - Bencubbin-like carbonaceous chondrite, Bashkortostan, Russia, findLe Teilleul -Howardite, Basse-Normandie, France, fell 1845 Mereta - H4 ordinary chondrite, Texas, findNagaria - Eucrite, Uttar Pradesh, India, fell 1875 Noblesville - H4-6 ordinary chondrite, Hamilton County, Indiana, fell 1991North Haig - Ureilite, Western Australia, found 1961Northwest Africa 2690 - Eucrite, Erfoud, Morocco, findNorthwest Africa 5243 - L4 ordinary chondrite, Sahara, Northwest Africa, findNorthwest Africa 5376 - CM2 carbonaceous chondrite, Algeria, findNovo-Urei - Ureilite, Respublika Mordoviya, Russia, fell 1886 Peramiho - Eucrite, Ruvuma, Tanzania, fell 1899Primm - H4 ordinary chondrite, Clark County, Nevada, find Puerto Lápice - Eucrite, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, fell 2007Sayh al Uhaymir 300 - Lunar feldspathic breccia, Al Wusta, Oman, findSanta Vitoria do Palmar - L3 ordinary chondrite, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, findStatesboro - L5 ordinary chondrite, Bulloch, Georgia, find Uvalde - H5 ordinary chondrite, Texas, findZag - H3-6 ordinary chondrite, Western Sahara, fell August 1998Zaragoza - Fine octahedrite, IVA class, Spain, findZmenj -Howardite, Brest, Belarus, fell 1858

New Acquisitions

CMS Outreach News

2007 Nininger Meteorite Award

Mary Sue Bell and Anat Shahar are dual recipients of the 2007 Nininger Meteorite Award. Bell, a graduate student at the University of Houston and a staff scientist at Johnson Space Center, was recognized for her paper “Experimental shock decomposition of siderite and the origin of magnetite in Martian meteorite ALH 84001", which was published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science. Her paper investigates impact shock as the source of microscopic magnetite crystals in the Martian meteorite ALH84001, which were hypothesized by other researchers as biologic in origin. Shahar, a graduate student at UCLA, was recognized for her paper “Astrophysics of CAI formation as revealed by silicon isotope LA-MC-ICPMS of an igneous CAI”, which was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. The paper describes a novel isotopic analysis technique which constrains the timing and conditions of formation of the earliest formed solids in the Solar System, calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAI). Bell and Shahar are the first dual women recipients of the Award since 1970.

The Nininger Meteorite Award was started in 1960 through a

Mary Sue Bell (top) and Anat Shahar (bottom), the recipients of the 2007 Nininger Meteorite Award

Meteorite in the Spotlight: Allende

CMS Research News

The Allende meteorite (image, right) is one of the most well-studied meteorites because it is the largest known one belonging to the rare carbonaceous chondrite class (~2 metric tons have been recovered) and it fell in February 1969, just as scientists world-wide were preparing their laboratories to analyze the first Moon rocks that would be returned later that year by Apollo 11. CMS holds over 100 lbs of Allende, including numerous stones recovered

gift to the Center from Dr. H.H. Nininger and his wife, Mrs. Addie D. Nininger. The award aims to promote the science of meteoritics by recognizing outstanding student research in meteoritical science as embodied by a research paper.

shortly after its fall. Allende is a primitive meteorite that contains some of the earliest-formed solid grains in the solar nebula, including refractory calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) and less refractory silicate spherules (chondrules). Postdoctoral Research Associate Audrey Bouvier is studying both long-lived (207Pb-206Pb) and short-lived (26Al-26Mg, with a half-life of only ~720,000 yrs) radioisotope systems in Allende CAIs and chondrules to precisely date their formation. This study is likely to provide new insights into the timing of the earliest events in the history of the Solar System.

CMS Outreach News

Center for Meteorite Studies Gift FormThe Center for Meteorite Studies plans to continue providing the public and the scientific community access to the largest university-based collection of meteorites in the world and your support will help. To contribute, please detach the following form and mail with your check or other payment information to: ASU Foundation, PO Box 2260, Tempe, AZ 85280-2260-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes! I am pleased to support the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University through a gift of:___Adopt a Meteorite ($250) ___ Friend of the Center ($100) ___Other (please specify amount)

“Adopt a Meteorite” supports the care and maintenance of the Center's meteorite collection. We will provide you with a photo and certificate of your meteorite, feature your meteorite in the museum for a period of time and provide you with an update when your sample is used by a scientist for study. In addition, you’ll receive the “Friend” benefits below.

As a “Friend of the Center”, you will receive benefits including our biannual newsletter, invitations to “Friends Only” lectures and tours of the collection and a Center for Meteorite Studies magnet with which you can search for your own meteorites!

Please select payment method: Check (payable to ASU Foundation) Visa MasterCard Discover AMEX Card Number_________________________________________ Exp. Date______________Signature ____________________________________________ Date__________________Name_____________________________________________________________________Address___________________________________________________________________My (or my spouse’s) employer is a matching gift company. Name of the employer _________________The full amount of your payment may be considered a charitable contribution. All funds will be deposited with the ASU Foundation, a separate non-profit organization that exists to benefit ASU. Please mail your check and this form to: ASU Foundation, PO Box 2260, Tempe, AZ 85280-2260Thank you! Your generous support is appreciated! Account #30002622

CMS Receives Grant in Support of Education and Outreach

Since 2002, ASU’s Women & Philanthropy program has supported students and the community with over $1 million in grants to programs that help fulfill the University’s vision of excellence, access and impact. CMS was one of only a handful of ASU programs to be awarded a Women & Philanthropy grant in 2008. This grant will allow CMS to develop new programs and resources that use authentic data and specimens to inspire the next generation of space scientists. CMS is striving to expand its education and outreach program to reach new audiences of local school-age children, and to increase community awareness of the high-profile research conducted in the Center. The grant will be used to develop unique education modules for teachers on the science of meteorites and to expand and enhance the Center’s current website. These initiatives will have local as well as global impact. Making Standards-aligned education modules for teachers to use in class will give Arizona children access to real meteorites! An improved website will establish the Center as an international gateway to information related to meteorites.

October 18-19: Sedona Gem and Mineral Club Rock Show & SaleSedona Red Rock High School, Sedona, AZ, 10 AM-5 PM Saturday, 10 AM-4 PM Sunday. Visit the CMS hands-on meteorite display and the Sedona Gem and Mineral Club members’ best specimens. Find out more at http://www.sedonagemandmineral.org/October 31 and November 28: Astronomy Open HousesASU Tempe Campus, Bateman Physical Sciences H-wing roof, 8-10 PM. Enjoy telescope viewing, a hands-on meteorite display and more! The Open House website is at http://homepage.mac.com/agfuentes/openhouse.htmlNovember 1: Earth and Space Exploration DayASU Tempe Campus, Physical Sciences F-wing, 9 AM-3 PM. Participate in a multitude of hands-on science exhibits featuring researchers in the ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE). Check the event’s website (http://sese.asu.edu/earth_space_exploration_day) for more information.November 15: Homecoming Block PartyASU Tempe Campus, Eat, drink and by merry while enjoying displays from CMS and the rest of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, then root on the Sun Devils against Washington State! Up-to-date information can be found at http://clas.asu.edu/homecoming

CMS Outreach News

Upcoming Outreach Events!

Read All About It! CMS in the NewsThe Center was featured in the October 2008 issue of Astronomy Magazine. Writer Raymond Shubinski profiled Director Meenakshi Wadhwa and highlighted the cura-tion, research and outreach activities of the Center. ASU’s online newspaper (http://www.asuwebdevil.com) focused on the Center’s hands-on meteorite display in an article covering the September 2008 SESE Astronomy Open House.

Center Outreach in Action!

Left: CMS Research Scientist Phil Janney shows a young meteorite enthusiast a speci-men at the Challenger Center Family Science Night event.

Right: Girls attending the Sally Ride Science Festival on the ASU Tempe Campus enjoy the CMS hands-on meteorite display.

College of Liberal Arts and SciencesSchool of Earth and Space ExplorationCenter for Meteorite StudiesBox 872504, Tempe, AZ 85287-2504

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