The role of collisional compaction in primitive asteroids and comets

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During the early stages of solar system formation the consolidation of asteroids and comets took place. We have just learnt from recent space missions that some of these minor bodies have been preserved in a pristine way in several regions of our Solar System. From our experience on primitive meteorites we know that these bodies should contain valuable clues on the origin of the Solar System. Studies of the physical, chemical, and isotopic properties of the components of these minor bodies will provide important clues on their origin. We expect very different collisional histories undergone by these bodies depending on their particular formation, migration, and storage regions [1]. In Fig. 1 appears a schematic representation of the protoplanetary disk in the region of consolidation of the terrestrial planets about 4565 million years ago. Bodies located in the outer part of the main belt would have incorporated significant amounts of ice in their volume, but their migration to and residence times in other regions would have defined their physico-chemical properties. Recent laboratory studies and observational data compiled from comets, meteorites and meteoroids [2] suggest that the porosity of these bodies should have decreased with time depending on the degree of collisions, aqueous alteration and heating. For typical stony targets, the tensile strength and gravity are the main properties that are defining the formation of impact craters and subsequently the degree of impact metamorphism and mineralogy of the shocked materials. However, little is known about the influence of porosity on the impact process although the crushing of pore space is an efficient mechanism for absorbing shock waves, also increasing the postshock temperatures [2]. In this context, a Near-Earth Object (NEO) sample return mission called Marco Polo is being studied within the Cosmic Vision programme. Such kind of mission would be returning to the Earth unaltered material from a NEO, just without the alteration imposed by impacts, or by the long interplanetary stays required to natural delivery to Earth. An analysis of those samples in terrestrial laboratories would give additional clues about origin and evolution of that particular asteroid.

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