Planetary Mineralogy
The school associated with this volume was inspired by the recent advances in our understanding of the nature and evolution of our Solar System that have come from the missions to study and sample asteroids and comets, and the very successful Mars orbiters and landers. At the same time our horizons have expanded greatly with the discovery of extrasolar protoplanetary disks, planets and planetary systems by space telescopes. The continued success of such telescopic and robotic exploration requires a supply of highly skilled people and so one of the goals of the Glasgow school was to help build a community of early-career planetary scientists and space engineers.
Aqueous alteration in chondritic asteroids and comets from the study of carbonaceous chondrites
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Published:January 01, 2015
Abstract
Asteroids and comets comprise a diverse range of undifferentiated bodies that are currently of much interest in terms of space exploration. The meteorites called chondrites provide us with a valuable source of information on the origin and evolution of their parent bodies. From careful study of these meteorites the primordial mineralogy can be inferred by keeping in mind that these bodies suffered thermal metamorphism and/or aqueous alteration just after their formation. In this context, newly available instruments allow us to extract chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical information on the components of primitive meteorites. This is essential to better understand the physico-chemical processes operating during the different evolutionary stages experienced by the parent bodies of chondrites.