Space Weathering on Airless Bodies

Details Space Weathering on Airless Bodies Space Weathering on Airless Bodies

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.5401b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #54.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.496

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Airless bodies, such as the Moon, are constantly bombarded by energetic ions and micrometeorites. These impacts affect the composition, structure, and optical properties of the surfaces; these effects are collectively called `space weathering'. In this presentation we will give a synopsis of our laboratory studies on how He ions from the solar wind and micrometeorite impacts affect the chemical composition and spectral reflectance of San Carlos olivine powders. The experiments were done in ultrahigh vacuum and the surface composition and optical reflectance were measured without removing the samples from vacuum.
We have found that metallic iron particles, which affect the optical properties of irradiated powders, can be formed directly on ion irradiated surfaces, without the need to invoke redeposition of sputtered ejecta. We will compare our results to previous experiments, and give estimates of timescales for weathering of different planetary bodies by ions and micrometeorites.
This work has been supported by NASA DDAP and, more recently by the NASA LASER program.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Space Weathering on Airless Bodies does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Space Weathering on Airless Bodies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Space Weathering on Airless Bodies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1439433