The lunar rock and mineral characterization consortium: Deconstruction and integrated mineralogical,petrologic, and spectroscopic analyses of mare basalts |
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| Authors: | Peter J ISAACSON Amit BASU SARBADHIKARI Carlé M PIETERS Rachel L KLIMA Takahiro HIROI Yang LIU Lawrence A TAYLOR |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Box 1846, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA;2. Planetary Geosciences Institute, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA;3. The Pheasant Memorial Laboratory for Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry, Institute for Study of the Earth’s Interior, Okayama University at Misasa, Tottori 682‐0193, Japan;4. Planetary Exploration Group, Space Department, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, Maryland 20723, USA |
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| Abstract: | The lunar rock and mineral characterization consortium (LRMCC) has conducted coordinated mineralogy/petrography/spectroscopy analyses of a suite of pristine lunar basalts. Four basalt slabs (two low‐Ti, two high‐Ti) and paired thin sections were analyzed. Thin sections were analyzed for mineralogy/petrography, while the slabs were used to prepare particulate separates of major mineral phases and bulk samples. Mineral separates and particulate bulk samples were crushed to controlled grain sizes and their reflectance spectra measured in the NASA RELAB at Brown University. The resulting data set provides an essential foundation for spectral mixing models, offers valuable endmember constraints for space weathering analyses, and represents critical new ground truth results for lunar science and exploration efforts. |
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