Alteration of the surfaces of the moon and other airless bodies due to interactions with the space environment is broadly known as space weathering and encompasses effects from both irradiation by the…

This is a $499,531 grant awarded by a civilian federal agency to the Research Foundation of the City University of New York (RFCUNY) - Kingsborough Community College. The grant is for a two-year research project to study the effects of impact cratering and shock metamorphism on the surfaces of airless bodies like the Moon, through a series of shock recovery experiments, infrared spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy analyses. The work is relevant to the agency's Solar Systems Workings program, which supports research into atmospheric, geological, and geophysical processes on planetary bodies. No set-aside designation is indicated. The parent organization, the City University of New York (CUNY), has a long history of conducting scientific research and educational programs funded by federal grants and contracts across various agencies, including NASA, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Transportation.

Alteration of the surfaces of the moon and other airless bodies due to interactions with the space environment is broadly known as space weathering and encompasses effects from both irradiation by the solar wind and micrometeorite impacts. However, shock and other effects from large impacts can also alter surface material, and specific contributions of either impact or irradiation are not well established nor quantified. In order to disentangle effects of impact from irradiation induced damage, we propose a series of shock experiments on lunar-like anorthite followed by infrared reflectance spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy of shock recovery experiments. Specifically, we have the following objectives: a) characterize the shock effects in plagioclase of lunar composition in the near infrared (NIR) and mid infrared (MIR) spectral range b) determine the mechanism of deformation and alteration through coordinated petrographic, spectroscopic, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses c) determine the effect of particle size and porosity on the production of and remote detection of shock effects in lunar-relevant plagioclase through comparison of experimentally shocked rocks and a fine particulate regolith analog to accomplish these goals we will conduct the following tasks task 1: shock recovery experiments at the johnson space center flat plate accelerator (FPA) and petrographic analysis of recovered materials at the american museum of natural history task 2: NIR and MIR spectroscopy of pre- and post-shocked material at university of oxford task 3: transmission electron microscopy at the naval research lab the proposed work is relevant to the solar systems workings program, which supports research into atmospheric, climatological, dynamical, geologic, geophysical and geochemical processes occurring on planetary bodies. Impact cratering and shock metamorphism are dominant geologic processes that we are investigating with application to the moon. The results from our investigation will also enable better interpretations of observations of mercury and other airless bodies with crusts that include feldspar-rich materials. This work also falls within the subcategory of evolution and modification of surfaces (c-3 of the solar system workings solicitation), which specifically denotes impact craters and related processes.