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74 Pages·2013·18.48 MB·English

V olume 38 The Newsletter of AIAA Houston Section March / April 2013
Issue 5 The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics www.aiaahouston.org
Hubble Revisthited on NASA’s 50th Anniversary
The 44 Lunar and Planetary

Science Conference (LPSC)
Dr. Larry Jay Friesen, Wes Kelly and Shen Ge

Also, Continuing in this Is-
sue! Part 5 of 8

Man Will Conquer Space Soon!

(Collier’s 1952-54)
AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 1
Near the top of every page is an invisible link to return to this page.
The link is in located here (the blue bar), but not all pages display this bar.
March / April 2013
Horizons, Newsletter of AIAA Houston Section
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
From the Chair 3
From the Editor 4
The 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 5
Near-Earth Objects in Earth-Like Orbits, by Daniel R. Adamo 17
The “Horseshoe” Orbit of Near-Earth Object 2013 BS , by Adamo 20
45
Cranium Cruncher, by Douglas Yazell 26
Horizons is a bimonthly publication of the Houston Section
of The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
A 3AF MP Editorial First Published in La Gazette #26, by Philippe Mairet 27
Douglas Yazell, Editor
Editing team: Dr. Steven E. Everett, Ellen Gillespie, Shen Chelyabinsk Bolide Trajectory Reconstruction, by Daniel R. Adamo 28
Ge, Don Kulba, Alan Simon
Regular contributors: Dr. Steven E. Everett, Philippe Clear Creek High School and NASA’s HUNCH, with Mr. Robin Merritt 30
Mairet, Scott Lowther, Douglas Yazell
Contributors this issue: Dr. Larry Jay Friesen, Wes Kelly, Current Events including NASA Curiosity Update, by Dr. Dorothy Oehler 32
Daniel R. Adamo, James C. McLane III, Clay Stangle,
Michael Frostad. Dr. Dorothy Z. Oehler, Dr. Albert A. Times are Tough!, by Philippe Mairet, 3AF MP 33
Jackson IV
The 1940 Air Terminal Museum, An AIAA Historic Aerospace Site 34
AIAA Houston Section
Executive Council
The Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) Chapter 12 (Houston) 35
Daniel Nobles
Chair Climate Change and Local Responses, by Douglas Yazell 36
Vacant Robert Plunkett The Johnson Space Center (JSC) Astronomical Society (JSCAS) 37
Chair-Elect Secretary
Calendar 38
Sean Carter Clay Stangle
Section News 39
Past Chair Treasurer

Section News: Wayne Hale dinner meeting & Guy Thibodaux 1969 Address 44
Michael Frostad Brian Banker
Vice-Chair, Operations Vice-Chair, Technical
Our History Technical Committee’s Audiobook Project, by Ted Kenny 49

Operations Technical Student Section News: Rice University 50
Dr. Gary Turner Dr. Albert A. Jackson IV
Dr. Pamela Loughmiller Bebe Kelly-Serrato Student Section News: Texas A&M University 51
Jennifer Wells Dr. Zafar Taqvi
Melissa Gordon Julie Mitchell The Collier’s Series, Man Will Conquer Space Soon! (1952-1954) 52
Lisa Voiles Dr. Satya Pilla
Rafael Munoz Sheikh Ahsan San Antonio and the Genesis of the Collier’s Series, by Colin Davey 54
Svetlana Hanson Daryl Schuck
Tom Horn Roger Kleinhammer The 1957 Encounter: Robert A. Heinlein & Albert A. Jackson IV 56
Angela Beck Dr. Steven E. Everett
March 7, 1953, Man’s Survival in Space, Testing the Men (Collier’s) 60
Eryn Beisner Gary Brown
Douglas Yazell Ted Kenny
The Back Cover: Photographs of the late James C. McLane, Jr. 74
Irene Chan Dr. Kamlesh Lulla
Shen Ge Ludmila Dmitriev-Odier
Ryan Miller This newsletter is created by members of AIAA Houston Section. Opinions expressed herein other
than by elected Houston Section officers belong solely to the authors and do not necessarily repre-
Councilors sent the position of AIAA or the Houston Section. Unless explicitly stated, in no way are the com-
Alan Sisson ments of individual contributors to Horizons to be construed as necessarily the opinion or position
Christopher Davila of AIAA, NASA, its contractors, or any other organization. All articles in Horizons, unless other-
Dr. Larry Friesen wise noted, are the property of the individual contributors. Reproduction/republishing in any form
Shirley Brandt except limited excerpts with attribution to the source, will require the express approval of the indi-
Sarah Shull vidual authors. Please address all newsletter correspondence to editor2012[at]aiaahouston.org.
Dr. Michael Martin
Alicia Baker Cover: Two photographs of speakers at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science
Ellen Gillespie Conference of March 18-22, 2013, at the Woodlands near Houston, Texas. Left:
Matt Johnson
Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton delivering the Masursky lecture. Right: R. Aileen
Melissa Kronenberger
Yingst. Image credits: Douglas Yazell. Table of contents page: part of Vincent
www.aiaahouston.org van Gogh’s 1889 painting The Starry Night.
AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 2
Page 3
Upcoming Annual Awards Banquet Featuring From the Chair
a Talk on the NASA Warp Drive!

DANIEL NOBLES, CHAIR
On the evening of June 13th, also led the design of the Lu- rious service to the Engineer-
the Houston Section will hold nar Receiving Laboratory, ing Robotics Division. He has
our Annual Awards Banquet and was a Division Chief for been awarded a Silver Snoopy
in memory of Mr. James C the Space Environmental and a NASA Spaceflight
McLane, Jr. (1923-2012). Mr. Simulation Lab. On a more Awareness Award, both of
McLane held the position of personal note, Mr. McLane which are prestigious awards.
AIAA Houston Section Chair was a dear friend to many of Currently, he holds a post as
from 1971-1972, during us here in the Houston Sec- the Advanced Propulsion
[email protected]
which the Johnson Space tion, and still regularly attend- Theme Lead for the NASA
(Daniel A. Nobles)
Center flew Apollo Mission ed dinner meetings whenever Engineering Directorate and
Links:
15 and 16. He was the second possible, and we looked for- is the JSC representative to
https://people.nasa.gov
person in South Carolina to ward to speaking with him. the Nuclear Systems Working

build a gasoline-powered His passing has been felt by Group. I cannot wait to hear
model airplane, and attended many of us, and we will be his perspective of how we can I hope to see you there.
Clemson University. He holding this year’s Awards achieve faster than light trav-
For more information about
joined the Army Air Corps, Banquet in his memory. el. For more information,
this dinner meeting, visit our
and flew as a combat pilot check out this link at
over Germany as a member of Dr. Sonny White holds a Space.com: “Warp Drive May website’s event page via this
the 357th fighter group. From Ph.D. in physics from Rice Be More Feasible Than link or email Jennifer Wells
there, he worked for the Na- University, and a vast amount Thought, Scientists Say.” at:
tional Advisory Committee of experience in engineering [email protected]
for Aeronautics in Langley, here at the NASA Johnson We will also present various
Thank you for your continued
VA, and then designed wind Space Center, where many of awards and introduce our ex-
support of the AIAA Houston
tunnels in Tullahoma, TN. He us best remember his merito- ecutive council for next year.
Section.

Above: Photo from a 1972 Section meeting in the Holiday Inn on NASA Road 1.
Chairman James C. McLane, Jr. (standing) is introducing the speaker, Major
General Douglas T. Nelson, Program Director for the B-1 supersonic bomber.
The guest on the right (seated) is Gemini/Apollo astronaut and Air Force test
pilot James A. McDivitt. Image credit: James C. McLane III.

Above right: Sheriff Foster B. McLane, Abbeville, South Carolina, circa 1900.
Left: Images from the January / February 2012 issue of Horizons from an article
starting on page 26 reporting on our Section’s lunch-and-learn by Dr. Harold
“Sonny” White. Image credits: Harold White.
AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 3
Page 4
From the Editor Aerospace Alligator News, LPSC 2013 & More
DOUGLAS YAZELL, EDITOR
There are two alligators in the (TPWD) game warden in our Lunar and Planetary Science
Bay Area Blvd ditch, one at Houston Clear Lake area, but Conference in the Woodlands
Boeing Way and one at Park it was a different alligator. with Horizons reporters Wes
Shadows Trail! Neighbors say This reptile was almost ten Kelly and Shen Ge. Wes did a
both alligators have been there feet long and it was found on great job of combining the
for years. Both are small and Clear Lake City Blvd. It was writing of all three of those
about five feet in length. Illegal not dangerous, but moving it journalists.
acts include feeding alligators would been dangerous for the
(A $75 ticket is part of the pen- people doing the work of Daniel R. Adamo provides
alty, though I met a couple moving the alligator. three excellent astrodynamics
feeding both alligators. The articles for this issue. Addi-
penalty discourages people Heavy rains and the mating tional contributors include
from teaching alligators to as- season cause the alligators to Philippe Mairet and James C.
E-mail: sociate people with food.) and move away from their favorite McLane III. The Horizons
editor2012[at]aiaahouston.org moving alligators. Also, unau- homes. Collier’s series continues its
thorized killing of an alligator great run in this issue, too.
www.aiaahouston.org results in arrest and a large A photograph taken on May
An archive for Horizons on a monetary penalty. 29, 2013, shows the Park I am late with the formatting
national AIAA web site is here. Shadows Trail alligator with a work for this issue, so we
A neighbor reported that some- very full stomach. It seems to missed our deadline to publish
Submissions deadline: one told her about a TV news be a sudden change, so a meal this March / April 2013 issue
June 9, 2013, for the report saying that the Boeing of an egret or a large turtle is by April 30. We now aim for
May / June 2013 issue, Way alligator was killed on more likely than a pregnancy. publication by May 31.
to be online by June 30, 2013. Middlebrook Drive after police Among other reasons for this
found it in the middle of the I have not seen the Boeing delay are my back surgery in
Advertising road. That led us to the internet Way alligator for a week or November of 2012 and a busi-

where we found two TV news two. I hope it is safe in its ness trip to Oregon.
Please contact reports (ABC and NBC) about home in this ditch on both
the editor about rates. an alligator killed by a Texas sides of Boeing Way. When time permits, we will
Parks and Wildlife Department return to listing AIAA confer-
The NBC news report stated ence papers by local authors.
that TPWD discourages peo-
ple from complaining to them The January / February 2013
about alligators unless some- issue can now be downloaded
one is in danger. in its low resolution format
article by article. By using
Dr. Larry Jay Friesen is an these smaller PDF files, the
excellent writer whose work user need not download an
for this issue’s cover story is entire 72-page issue. That was
appreciated. He covered the a successful experiment.
Above: GRAIL and LRO press briefing. Image credit: LPSC
2013 royalty-free images.
Top: The Park Shadows Trail (PST) alligator after a Right: Astronauts for Hire
meal, it seems. Middle: The PST alligator. Bottom: (www.astronauts4hire.org)
The Boeing Way alligator and large Red-eared Slider published their fourth
turtles. Image credits: Douglas Yazell. quarterly newsletter.
AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 4
Page 5
The 44th Lunar & Planetary Science Conference Cover Story
DR. LARRY JAY FRIESEN, WES KELLY AND SHEN GE
Where should one begin dis- This thesis could mean giving  Field findings from planets,
cussion of a multi-world trade up a popular idea for supply- meteorites and asteroids,
fair, the 44th Lunar and Plane- ing water to early Earth, the  Better instrumentation in
tary Science Conference idea of late addition of water labs, and
(LPSC), held in the Houston- to Earth by comets, because  Data from and modeling of
area Woodlands Marriott comets are not a good match solar system and extrasolar
Convention Center 18-22 for Earth’s deuterium-to- planets.
March 2013? Let’s start with hydrogen isotopic abundance This picture is made even
the first day plenary session ratio, nor do comets match clearer by exhaustive debate
featuring the Masursky me- Earth’s ratio of nitrogen iso- that frequently revises much
morial lecture, “On Building topes. For this late addition of this never-to-be-finished
an Earth-Like Planet,” by Dr. argument to hold, we need mosaic.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Director asteroids made of rocky mate-
of the Department of Terres- rials, plus retention of enough Magma (from Greek word for
trial Magnetism at the Carne- water and other volatiles dur- “mixture”) is a mixture of
gie Institute for Science. ing accretion impacts. In prin- molten or semi-molten rock,
ciple, a water ocean could volatiles and solids found
The conference guide to oral have been produced with very beneath the surface of the
and poster presentations pro- little initial water (Compare Earth. Clearly, its presence Above: The help desk on Sunday,
vides one or two sentences for the depth of Earth’s oceans and composition across space March 17, 2013. Image credit:
each of 2,000 papers. All are with the thickness of the man- and time beneath planetary, LPSC royalty-free images.
available online as two-page tle.), but there is not full un- lunar and asteroid surfaces are
abstracts (www.lpi.usra.edu/ derstanding of what happens features of much debate, as
meetings/lpsc2013). to water in a magma ocean (a session paper abstracts show.
layer of molten rock thought Separation of the magma into
Elkins-Tanton’s new paper to have covered early Earth). layers of rock rich in silicates,
[#1408] says, “Magma ocean The take-home message is metals, carbonates or water is
processes on planetesimals that any terrestrial planet discussed in detail by geolo-
and planets control the earli- should start with a water gists.
est compositional and volatile ocean early in its formation.
content of the terrestrial plan- After decades of conferences
ets.” Listening to Elkins- Whether this is a majority since the lunar landings, there
Tanton at this year’s plenary consensus, we hesitate to say, is now increased concern with
session, we observe the time- except that evidence or argu- volatiles: compositions of
line of events close to the ment for this scenario appears atmospheres and fluid reser-
Earth’s formation are noted to throughout papers presented voirs, and origins of water.
three decimal point precision in LPSC 44, some in collabo-
in the period from 4 to 4.6 ration with Elkins-Tanton. We identified lakes, oceans
billion years ago. Yet, the role But there are arguments and and glaciers on several plan-
of cometary collisions with data sets causing one to won- ets and moons in our solar
Earth in the Late Heavy Bom- der where the matter will fi- system, and we find traces
bardment period (LHB – see nally rest. Also, there are and inferred histories of lakes,
Glossary) is greatly reduced findings in sessions about oceans and glaciers on planets
or revised to explain the sup- planetary formation processes and moons beyond our solar
ply of “volatile” materials in other star systems. These system. All lakes, oceans and
such as water and carbon findings place the formation glaciers disappeared on Mars
compounds. Hydrogen and of Earth and our other solar and Venus. Current research
carbon within the earth’s inte- system’s planets in a larger interests are often
rior and magma ocean, it is context with other possible  The origins of life on this
reasoned, were eventually outcomes. Thus, an increas- world,
released as the early heated ingly clear picture of plane-
 Habitability (perhaps for
atmosphere; this, in part, pre- tary formation processes
astronauts) earlier or now
cipitated into early oceans and emerges. That picture is based
on other solar system bod-
lakes. on
(Continued on page 6)
AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 5
Page 6
Cover Story Historical Notes conference was the first to use contains 2,087 abstracts and
the new name, the Lunar and 750 megabytes of data. Ab-
The March 18, 2013, after- Planetary Science Conference stracts are also available
noon lecture [M151] is named (LPSC). The 1970 LSC took online at the Houston Clear
for pioneer space geologist place at NASA Johnson Lake area Lunar and Plane-
(Continued from page 5) and astronomer Dr. Harold Space Center (JSC) and the tary Science Institute (LPI)

Masursky (1922-1990). In the newly formed Lunar Science web site. This report will
ies, and
NASA Apollo program years, Institute (LSI) in the former mention and link to some of
 The prospect that extrasolar
Masursky led lunar and plane- James Marion West plantation those abstracts. The author
planets could provide paral-
tary surface survey teams and house east of JSC on the list, though not all were in
lel-Earth examples (such as
landing site selection groups. NASA Parkway. Some of attendance, exceeds 7,000
Thursday’s session, Plane-
He helped monitor and guide those earliest conferences names. Among “non-
tary Atmospheres: Ex- the 1969 Moon landing and (1971 and others) took place attendees,” as Table 1 indi-
oplanets [R452]).
analyzed the data afterwards. in a downtown Houston con- cates, is the extensive fleet of

Looking to Mars, he led vention center which no long- robotic spacecraft exploring
This is not to say that the con-
the1971 Mariner 9 Mars ob- er exists. planets, moons, comets and
ference is unconcerned with
serving team and the selection asteroids. These spacecraft
many other aerospace issues. of the 1976 Mars Viking As scope of lunar and plane- made this flurry of Wood-
Descriptions of planetary and lander sites. Masursky regu- tary science studies increased, lands activities possible.
lunar environments affect the larly visited Houston during with more varied missions
design of future spacecraft. his career. Many here remem- and international participa- Early Sessions and Papers
The conference is also a treas- ber him from work, confer- tion, the gatherings grew from
ure trough of data on existing ences, or his sharing of scien- hundreds to thousands of pre- To illustrate the structure and
spacecraft performance, oper- tific findings with television senters and participants. New depth of LPSC 44, Monday
ations, payload sets and pro- audiences. One of us (Wes and larger venues near JSC morning’s first-day (March
posals for new spacecraft mis- Kelly) last saw him with stu- subsequently served as hosts, 18, 2013) sessions began with
sions. Whether proposals are dents and coworkers at a Hou- including a hotel in South four simultaneous sessions of
presented in oral or poster ston Clear Lake area Indian Shore Harbor. oral presentations prior to Dr.
format, it is clear that the sub- restaurant on Upper Bay Road Elkins-Tanton’s talk:
missions were already con- during a late 1980s LPSC. LPSC proceedings were once
nected to a legacy of previous three-volume sets resembling  Planetary Differentiation
conferences. It is also clear The first of these conferences Houston’s yellow pages. A across the Solar System
that future proposals will be took place in 1970. It was compact disk (CD) version [M101]; the first of several
shaped by this year’s scien- called the Lunar Science Con- arrived in 2005. The memory special sessions devoted to
tific and operational reports. ference (LSC). The eighth stick issued to 2013 attendees (Continued on page 7)
AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 6
Page 7
(Continued from page 6) search for carbon in rock  What can be determined Cover Story
 CheMin: an X-ray diffrac- from examining asteroid
the Mars Science Laborato- tion meter to identify min- remains of such a process.
ry (MSL) Curiosity rover eral type (#1365, #2781)
results,  Mastcam & MAHLI camer- Differentiation session pa-
 Geology and Environment as (#1617) pers [M101], at the very least,
[M102],  APXS: an alpha particle X- show that the asteroid belt
 Lunar Remote Sensing ray spectrometer for in situ composition is not uniform
[M103], devoted to results soil chemical analysis and that formation processes
from several recent lunar  ChemCam: a laser break- were influenced by initial
orbiters, and down spectrometer (#1267) distance from the Sun (as in
 Early Solar System Chro- for rock and mineral chemi- “Asteroid Partial Melting at
Above: Vesta image by NASA’s
nology [M104], derived cal composition the Solar System’s Snow
Dawn spacecraft. Vesta is the
from isotopic ratios ob-  DAN: an active neutron Line,” #2481), and then by second largest asteroid in the
tained from geological field spectrometer the sizes of the bodies after main asteroid belt. Image cred-
sites and meteorites. The  REMS: the Mars “weather surfaces and interiors cooled. it: NASA.
afternoon sessions were station” (#1548, #1625) Subsequent collisions scat-
devoted to planetary charac-  RAD: background solar tered remains into the hetero-
terization: radiation monitor geneous asteroid belt compo-
sition we observe today, and
 Cartography [M152],
scattered remains into meteor-
 Volcanism in the Solar Amid this summary of 100-
ites collected here on Earth,
System [M154], sol findings Grotzinger de-
where we attempt to trace
 Dynamics and Tectonics clared that geological evi-
them back to their parent bod-
[M155], dence of ancient water (clays)
ies.
 From Dust to Planetary indicated relatively neutral pH

Disks [M156] (early for- levels, low salinity and some
The solar-electric powered
mation stages) and carbon, present in crystalline Above: Vesta image by the
NASA Dawn mission to as-
 Soils and Rocks [M153], forms. Hubble Space Telescope. Im-
teroids Vesta and Ceres is
more about the MSL re- age credit: NASA.
another spacecraft star of the
sults. Contemporary Martian sur-
LPSC 44 show. Wednesday’s
The evening included a face features are the main
special session, Dawn: Vesta
NASA briefing on future concern of the session de-
from the Inside Out [W301],
plans. Press briefings high- scribed above. Elsewhere, at
naturally links with Differen-
lighted particular discoveries the Differentiation session
tiation session papers
or reports. [M101], planetary theoretical
[M101], and links with results
models dig deeper, searching
discussed later in the confer-
Starting with the Monday sometimes for “magma.”
ence, Dawn at Vesta [Session
morning MSL session Project Work of the morning’s first
802], with its one paper,
Scientist Dr. John Grotzinger presenter William Bottke
[#1136]. T. H. Burbine’s pa- Above: Image of Ceres, the
presented a broad survey of (#1672) was reported in Hori-
per [#2637] begins by stating, largest asteroid in the main
Curiosity’s activities with zons last year. This and sub-
“The asteroid class best asteroid belt, taken by the Keck
instruments for the first 100 sequent papers concentrate on
linked to a meteor type are the Telescope. Image credit: Keck
Martian days, or sols (about  The asteroid belt as ob-
V-types.” In this case, V indi- Observatory by C. Dumas.
24.5 hours per sol), since the served,
cates Vesta or similar aster-
landing of August 5, 2012.  The asteroid belt’s compo-
oids that have one-micron
The vehicle has an expected sition inferred from meteor-
bands similar to the spectra of
drive capability of 20 kilome- ites, and
howardite, eucrite and dioge-
ters with a payload of 11 cam-  Models of interior process-
nite (HED) meteorites. For
eras, spectrometers, and dig- es, such as convection and
decades prior to the Dawn
ging tools as chemical analyz- differentiation into different
mission, Vesta had already
ers. The names of the princi- mineral layers.
been identified as a source for
pal instruments are listed be- Here there is a close link be- Above: An artist’s version of
meteorites with volcanic fea-
low. Session papers providing tween the NASA Dawn spacecraft
tures not attributed to Mars or
more detailed discussions of  What Elkins-Tanton pre- leaving Earth. Dawn completed
the Moon. This led to specu-
their 100-sol findings are in- sents about planetesimals the Vesta portion of its mission
lation that Vesta would be
dicated by catalog number. coalescing into Earth-like and is now on its way to Ceres.
rich in volatiles or a differen-
 SAM: a gas chromatograph planets in a sequence of Image credit: NASA/JPL-
tiated surface, perhaps even
-mass spectrometer to collisions and mergers, and Caltech/UCLA/McTech
(Continued on page 8)
AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 7
Page 8
Cover Story (Continued from page 7) number of stars with photo- also experience low rotation
spheric abundances greater rates due to increased tidal
carbonates and water. From than the solar ratio were ex- effects from the star. The au-
remote sensing it certainly amined with the chemical thors of paper [#2787], within
appeared to differ from other abundance applied to the limits of their models that
larger asteroids such as Ceres. complex coalescence process- included a variable reflec-
It now appears that Vesta has es within the presumed proto- tance, identified thermal satu-
a deep basaltic crust about ten planetary disks surrounding ration conditions leading to
kilometers thick. Other V type the stars early in their life runaway greenhouse effects if
asteroids are perhaps crustal histories. the night side of the planet
remains with diameters of that could not radiate off into
order. As for large quantities Atmospheric Studies of space stellar heat at a rate to
of volatiles, as paper [#2767] Solar System and match the buildup on its per-
argues, if not at Vesta, there is Extrasolar Planets manently illuminated side
still good prospects for their (1,640 Watts per square meter
presence at Ceres, the largest Findings, of course, rest on maximum stellar heat flux
Above: An image from the NASA asteroid and a body connected assuming that circumstellar constant). With rotational
Mars Science Lander (MSL) with carbonaceous chondritic and stellar photosphere ele- rates increased to values ap-
press briefing. Image credit: meteorites. Ceres is the next mental abundances are simi- proaching Earth’s angular
LPSC royalty-free images. stop on Dawn’s excursion. lar. But are they? Inquiring of rate, the boundary dropped to
several attendees about this 1,550. There’s something to
It was Monday afternoon problem, one suggested veri- ponder here for Earth’s future
(Session From Dust to Planets fication could come through as well.
in the Protoplanetary Disk continued study of solar sys-
[M156]) that the authors of tem abundances preserved in Isotope Abundance Ratios,
paper [#1403] (“Effects of meteorites, asteroids or com- Age Estimations and
Refractory Carbon Grains on ets. This brings us back to Points of Origin
Exoplanet Planetesimal Com- examining isotopic ratios to
position”) addressed varia- determine ages and original In the fourth session of the
tions of magma composition abundances of both refractory first morning, Early Solar
on the interstellar vs. inter- and volatile materials. We System Chronology [M104],
planetary scale. Torrence note reports in 22 March 2013 a paper by Y. Amelin and
Johnson and colleagues Science [References 1 & 2], others provided an interesting
“calculated the planetesimal discussing the same issue of introduction to isotopic evi-
composition for exoplanet extrasolar planet composi- dence trails in meteorites.
systems with different carbon- tions and volatiles, but using Though cryptically titled, “U-
oxygen ratios (C/O).” This ground-based Keck II Obser- Th-Pb Systematics of CAIs
was done since, “Given the vatory results. The introduc- from CV Chondrite North-
observed range in stellar car- tion notes that abundances of west Africa 4502,” [#2690], it
bon to oxygen ratios in ex- elements heavier than helium had links to other presented
oplanet host stars, conden- (C, N, S) in the atmospheres papers that would resonate
sates might range from more of Jupiter and Saturn exceed outside the conference halls.
water and volatile rich than solar abundances by factors of Still, the program lead did not
solar system objects to vola- 3 and 7 respectively; and that yield information easily:
tile poor and silicate/metal “enhancements of specific “Four CAIs from CV chon-
rich. [And] for more carbon- elements provides a finger- drite NWA 4502 have Pb
rich stars (C/O greater than print of the planet formation [lead] isotopic age of
about 0.8) refractory material process.” Infrared spectrum 4,567.40 ± 0.27 [million
in the inner part of the sys- results for three exoplanets years], and uniform 238U/235U
tems might be dominated by exceeding Jovian mass shape of 137.808 ± 0.019.” In trans-
carbides rather than silicates.” the discussion. lation we conclude that a me-
teorite from West Africa is
Volatile ice composition An intriguing extrasolar plan- under examination for age
would depend on availability et situation is that of an Earth- through a process known as
of oxygen for formation of H like world located near Pb-Pb isotopic dating, and
2
ice condensations. Systems enough to a red dwarf star to that the age is found to be
with less than the solar value experience heating similar to similar to other CAIs
for C/O of 0.55 would have the solar constant (1,380 (calcium aluminum rich inclu-
very ice rich planetesimals. A Watts per square meter), but (Continued on page 9)
AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 8
Page 9
(Continued from page 8) lead abundance ratios when Cover Story
a molten mix might have More Monday Reports
sions). Toward lunchtime, pa- settled out into a solid ore
per [#1841] reported about (Table 2). In the MSL Geology and En-
tests on another chondrite, vironment session [M102] maria, Latin for seas, is mare;
NWA 6704. Based on Not all isotopic abundance by Palucis and others [#1259] maria are large, dark plains of
238U/235U ratio of 137.88, an ratios are assessed to deter- discussed the Peace Vallis fan volcanic origin on the Moon,
age of 4.56334 billion years mine a decay rate, however. system that drains into the according to Wikipedia,
with +/-300,000 years uncer- Comparing deuterium-to- Curiosity landing area. Its which explains that astrono-
tainty was reported. hydrogen ratios in the at- similarity to other fan systems mers initially mistook them
mospheres of Earth, Mars in the Martian southern high- for seas.] They estimate ages
In the two-page abstract of and Jupiter might give an lands suggests a period in for smooth volcanic units
another paper examining other estimate of how much hy- Mars’ history of widespread between 18 and 50 million
NW African meteorites (7388 drogen might have escaped fluvial activity [related to years, fantastically young for
and 7605), similar age but far from each world over eons, rivers or streams]. The au- the Moon. They ask the ques-
different composition and with the heavier of the two thors propose snowfall as the tion, “What kept these areas
origin conclusions are drawn; atoms (2H) less frequently water source. They estimate active for so long?” Greenha-
and for a similarly ancient reaching escape velocity. As the source regions to be too gen and co-authors [#2987]
NWA 7325, investigator An- mentioned, high in elevation for it to be report that Tsiolkovsky crater,
thony Irving, speaking  There are abundance ratios ground water. If the water on the far side of the Moon, is
Wednesday morning in a ses- in the solar photosphere source were rainfall, based on weird in a number of respects.
sion devoted to science results which have been altered terrestrial experience, they For one thing, it contains lots
from the Messenger spacecraft, by solar nuclear reactions, would expect more fine scale of rocky blocks, which is not
suggests a quite extraordinary  There are abundances in branching of the tributaries. expected for a crater thought
explanation of origin [#2164]. the giant planets which to be about 3.2 billion years
While we note that some NWA might reflect the original In Lunar Remote Sensing old, based on crater counts in
meteorites have been traced to abundance ratios of the [M103], Hayne and others mare-filled areas.
Mars by investigations (e.g., clouds from which they [#3003] find evidence or the
NWA 7034 and 6162 in sever- formed, and effectiveness of relative rego- Monday afternoon at the ses-
al papers of session [W302];  In the terrestrial planets lith thickness as a dating tool. sion called Planetary Dynam-
7034 is discussed as well in there are atmospheric Regolith is the upper layer of ics and Plate Tectonics
Reference 3), Irving argues abundance ratios for nitro- finely divided material - dust [M155]: Leone and co-
that 7325 could have originated gen, oxygen, carbon and and small rocks - that covers authors [#1089] offered a new
on Mercury! the inert gases such as the Moon. They think they idea for the cause of the Mar-
argon, plus the abundance will be able to use thermal tian hemispheric dichotomy,
Beta decays are attributed to ratios of many stable and inertia as a measure of upper where the southern hemi-
weak force interactions within unstable isotopes of ele- regolith thickness. Braden and sphere of Mars is at very
the nuclei of atomic isotopes, ments in rocks and ores co-authors [#2843] reported much higher elevation than
the source of much natural extracted from their interi- small-scale volcanic units in the northern, and the bounda-
radioactivity. Each isotopic ors or obtained on Earth as many maria; some smooth, ry between them is in many
configuration of the nucleus meteorites. some rough. [The singular of (Continued on page 10)
has its characteristic rate of
decay which we associate with
an isotopic level of instability
or stability. As a result we can
determine the age of ancient
cave camp fires or the for-
mations of the oldest rocks
from atomic remains. In broad
terms, radio carbon dating
tracks from nitrogen-15 decay
to carbon-14 (14C) and back to
stable 14N for the cave, reckon-
ing over thousands of years;
and planetary geophysics
tracks deposits of slower de-
cays over billions of years, for
example, assessing uranium-to-
AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 9
Page 10
Cover Story (Continued from page 9) rather than discovered, by order to determine the Moon’s
lander instruments that heat interior structure (Wikipedia).
places relatively sharp and samples. In the session GRAIL Explores
steep. They propose a giant the Moon’s Interior [T255],
southern impact with im- At Origin and Evolution of Zuber and co-authors [#1777]
pactor radius around 1,600 the Moon [T204], Nakajima described their lunar gravity
kilometers. The planet’s re- and Stevenson discussed two model of degree and order 660.
sponse to the impact is vol- variations on the giant impact This represents block sizes of
canism, crustal production, model for the origin of the 8.3 kilometers on the lunar sur-
and crustal thickening. This Moon face. Work on a model of de-
contrasts with an existing idea  Impact into a fast-spinning gree and order 900 is in pro-
for a giant northern impact, proto-Earth, and cess. Plans for models beyond
which would make the north-  Collision between two “sub degree 1,000 are also in work,
ern lowlands the floor of a -Earths” of similar size. making the team the largest
Above: Dr. Maria Zuber from
gigantic impact basin. There Most giant impact models current users of NASA super-
the NASA GRAIL mission at the
are other models not involv- consider a Mars-size object computer time. They are cur-
GRAIL/LRO press briefing.
ing impacts. colliding with a much larger rently limited by Lunar Orbiter
Image credit: LPSC royalty-
proto-Earth. Visscher and Laser Altimeter (LOLA) topog-
free images.
At the session called Plane- Fegley [#1546] discussed raphy data from the Lunar Re-
tary Volcanism in the Solar chemistry in the debris disk connaissance Orbiter (LRO).
System [M154], Huang and from which the Moon formed. As map comparisons show, at
co-authors [#2288] offered How much water is retained short wavelengths on the
evidence for explosive vol- in the eventual Moon depends Moon, gravity closely follows
canism on early Mars. They on the initial water inventory topography.
identified 75 ancient volca- and the solubility of water in
noes in the southern part of melt lavas. Lanueville and co- Williams and co-authors
Mars, and found a new type authors [#1594] noted that [#3092] worked on the Moon’s
of knobby terrain. Their evi- there is a strong enrichment of J and C gravitational terms
2 22
dence tells them that explo- heat sources (radioactive ura- from GRAIL data, and the
sive eruption was a dominant nium, thorium, and potassi- Love number K , measuring
2
volcanic style on early Mars. um) on the near side of the lunar elastic response to tidal
Moon. Nearly 90% of the forces. They cannot get the
Tuesday Moon’s volcanism occurred Love number to make sense if
on the near side. They esti- the Moon’s core is entirely sol-
Morning at Terrestrial Plane- mate that near side volcanism id; some part of it must be liq-
tary Differentiation [T201]: stopped roughly one billion uid. They give lunar radius as
James M. D. Day [#1835] years ago, and that far side 1,737.15 kilometers, a slight
reported a ubiquity of late- volcanism stopped around difference from the current
accretion signals on terrestrial three billion years ago. Joliffe standard value. Inner solid core
planets. Material was added to and co-authors [#2655] report radius equals 240 kilometers.
the planets after they had dif- that re-interpretation of Apol- The outer fluid core starts at
ferentiated and their main lo seismic data points to a 240 kilometers, with its top at
core growth was over. In the thinner crust on the Moon 330 kilometers. Mean lunar
Above: Kurt Retherford, Princi- MSL at The Rocknest Sand than previously thought, with density is 3,345.6 kilograms per
pal Investigator for the NASA Dune [T202], Archer and co- an average thickness between cubic meter. Taylor and co-
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter authors [#2168] offered rea- 34 and 43 kilometers. This is authors [#1783] report that
(LRO) mission at the GRAIL/ sons for thinking perchlorates in accord with GRAIL mis- some far side locations have
LRO press briefing. Image may be widespread on Mars. sion gravity data, which also crusts up to 50 to 60 kilometers
credit: LPSC royalty-free imag- Found already by the Phoenix indicates a thinner crust. thick. GRAIL data imply less
es. lander, they are relatively aluminum in the Moon than
stable in Mars conditions and Tuesday’s Wholly GRAIL previously thought. This means
do not react readily with or- the Moon is probably not en-
ganic matter. Some terrestrial GRAIL is familiar to most of riched in refractory abundance
organisms use them as an our readers, NASA’s recent when compared with Earth.
energy source. They can suck and successful Gravity Re-
up water and form brines. covery and Interior Laborato- Wieczorek and co-authors
When heated, they readily ry (GRAIL) mission to use [#1914] find that the Moon is
decompose, releasing oxygen, high-quality gravitational highly fractured by cratering,
so they could be destroyed, field mapping of the Moon in (Continued on page 11)
AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 10