Aiko Nakato

Itokawa Dust Particles: A Direct Link Between S-Type Asteroids and Ordinary Chondrites

Laboratory analysis of samples returned from an asteroid establishes a direct link between asteroids and meteorites and provides clues to the complex history of the asteroid and its surface. The Hayabusa spacecraft successfully recovered dust particles from the surface of near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa. Synchrotron-radiation x-ray diffraction and transmission and scanning electron microscope analyses indicate that the mineralogy and mineral chemistry of the Itokawa dust particles are identical to those of thermally metamorphosed LL chondrites, consistent with spectroscopic observations made from Earth and by the Hayabusa spacecraft. Our results directly demonstrate that ordinary chondrites, the most abundant meteorites found on Earth, come from S-type asteroids. Mineral chemistry indicates that the majority of regolith surface particles suffered long-term thermal annealing and subsequent impact shock, suggesting that Itokawa is an asteroid made of reassembled pieces of the interior portions of a once larger asteroid.

Incipient Space Weathering Observed on the Surface of Itokawa Dust Particles

Laboratory analysis of samples returned from an asteroid establishes a direct link between asteroids and meteorites and provides clues to the complex history of the asteroid and its surface. The reflectance spectra of the most abundant meteorites, ordinary chondrites, are different from those of the abundant S-type (mnemonic for siliceous) asteroids. This discrepancy has been thought to be due to space weathering, which is an alteration of the surfaces of airless bodies exposed to the space environment. Here we report evidence of space weathering on particles returned from the S-type asteroid 25143 Itokawa by the Hayabusa spacecraft. Surface modification was found in 5 out of 10 particles, which varies depending on mineral species. Sulfur-bearing Fe-rich nanoparticles exist in a thin (5 to 15 nanometers) surface layer on olivine, low-Ca pyroxene, and plagioclase, which is suggestive of vapor deposition. Sulfur-free Fe-rich nanoparticles exist deeper inside (<60 nanometers) ferromagnesian silicates. Their texture suggests formation by metamictization and in situ reduction of Fe2+.

Evaluation of dehydration mechanism during heating of hydrous asteroids based on mineralogical and chemical analysis of naturally and experimentally heated CM chondrites

Based on the evidence derived from spectroscopic observation and meteorite analysis, some hydrous asteroids were heated and dehydrated for a certain period of time after aqueous alteration. In order to reproduce the dehydration processes, we experimentally heated Murchison CM chondrite at 600°C for 1 h (600°C/1 h), 600°C/96 h, 900°C/1 h, and 900°C/96 h under controlled oxygen partial pressures. The experimental products were compared with Belgica (B-)7904 CM chondrite, a meteorite from a dehydrated asteroid in terms of characteristic mineralogical and compositional properties. B-7904 shows properties intermediate between the two experimental products heated at 900°C/1 h and 900°C/96 h. In addition, the presence or the absence of some temperature-sensitive minerals in B-7904 suggests that it experienced heating at a temperature higher than 700°C but lower than 890°C. The duration of heating, based on the diffusion time needed to achieve the Fe-Mg zoning profile in olivine in B-7904, was estimated to be between 10 and 103 days at 700°C and between 1 to 102 h at 890°C. The obtained durations are much shorter than those expected from the internal heating model which requires prolonged heating over million years. Therefore, it is unlikely that the short-lived radionuclide of 26Al is a heat source for the dehydration of B-7904. Instead, short-duration local heating, such as that from impacts or solar radiation, is a more promising heat source.

Organic matter in extraterrestrial water-bearing salt crystals

Abundant organic compounds were detected in brine-bearing halite crystals from a hydrovolcanically active asteroid. Direct evidence of complex prebiotic chemistry from a water-rich world in the outer solar system is provided by the 4.5-billion-year-old halite crystals hosted in the Zag and Monahans (1998) meteorites. This study offers the first comprehensive organic analysis of the soluble and insoluble organic compounds found in the millimeter-sized halite crystals containing brine inclusions and sheds light on the nature and activity of aqueous fluids on a primitive parent body. Associated with these trapped brines are organic compounds exhibiting wide chemical variations representing organic precursors, intermediates, and reaction products that make up life’s precursor molecules such as amino acids. The organic compounds also contain a mixture of C-, O-, and N-bearing macromolecular carbon materials exhibiting a wide range of structural order, as well as aromatic, ketone, imine, and/or imidazole compounds. The enrichment in 15N is comparable to the organic matter in pristine Renazzo-type carbonaceous chondrites, which reflects the sources of interstellar 15N, such as ammonia and amino acids. The amino acid content of the Zag halite deviates from the meteorite matrix, supporting an exogenic origin of the halite, and therefore, the Zag meteorite contains organics synthesized on two distinct parent bodies. Our study suggests that the asteroidal parent body where the halite precipitated, potentially asteroid 1 Ceres, shows evidence for a complex combination of biologically and prebiologically relevant molecules.