Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) Initiative. Fulfilling Apollo Science Goals and Preparing for Returning to the Moon.
Abstract
The Apollo Program returned 382 kg of samples. Some special samples that were collected or preserved in unique containers or environments remain unexamined since they were sealed or initially processed. These samples include material sealed on the lunar surface in vacuum containers, frozen samples, and samples processed in an organically clean glovebox and stored under helium. The goal of the ANGSA initiative is to examine a subset of these special samples to fulfil some of the proposed but never achieved Apollo mission science objectives (e.g., degassing from scarps) and to enable future science that will be carried out during the Artemis program (e.g., lunar volatile cycle). The initiative was purposely designed to function as a "new" sample return mission with processing, preliminary examination, and analyses utilizing new and improved technologies and recent mission observations. One of the samples that is being examined by the ANGSA consortium is the Apollo 17 double drive tube soil core 73001/73002 that penetrated a landslide deposit to a depth of up to 70 cm. Sample 73001 is the deeper part of the core and it was sealed on the lunar surface in a Core Sample Vacuum Container (CSVC). The temperature at the bottom of the core was approximately 250K when collected. We will summarize the results of the ANGSA team's progress in processing these double drive tube samples, documenting the lithologies found during curation and preliminary examination, analyzing the initial samples, and placing samples within local geologic and planetary contexts. These data will improve our understanding of the volatile cycles on the Moon, the role of volatiles in lunar processes, dynamics and chronology of lunar tectonics and landslide deposits, and evolution of the regolith.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMV013.0001S
- Keywords:
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- 1026 Composition of the moon;
- GEOCHEMISTRY;
- 1041 Stable isotope geochemistry;
- GEOCHEMISTRY;
- 3672 Planetary mineralogy and petrology;
- MINERALOGY AND PETROLOGY;
- 5470 Surface materials and properties;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETS