[meteorite-list] Scientists Find New Type Of Mineral In Historic Meteorite (Wassonite - Yamato 691)

[Ron Baalke]

April 5, 2011

Dwayne C. Brown 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1726 
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

William Jeffs 
Johnson Space Center, Houston 
281-483-5111 
william.p.jeffs at nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 11-098

SCIENTISTS FIND NEW TYPE OF MINERAL IN HISTORIC METEORITE

HOUSTON -- NASA and co-researchers from the United States, South Korea 
and Japan have found a new mineral named "Wassonite" in one of the 
most historically significant meteorites recovered in Antarctica in 
December 1969. 

The new mineral was discovered within the meteorite officially 
designated Yamato 691 enstatite chondrite. The meteorite was 
discovered the same year as other landmark meteorites Allende and 
Murchison and the return of the first Apollo lunar samples. The study 
of meteorites helps define our understanding of the formation and 
history of the solar system. 

The meteorite likely may have originated from an asteroid orbiting 
between Mars and Jupiter. Wassonite is among the tiniest, yet most 
important, minerals identified in the 4.5-billion-year-old sample. 
The research team, headed by NASA space scientist Keiko 
Nakamura-Messenger, added the mineral to the list of 4,500 officially 
approved by the International Mineralogical Association. 

"Wassonite is a mineral formed from only two elements, sulfur and 
titanium, yet it possesses a unique crystal structure that has not 
been previously observed in nature," said Nakamura-Messenger. 

In 1969, members of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition 
discovered nine meteorites on the blue ice field of the Yamato 
Mountains in Antarctica. This was the first significant recovery of 
Antarctic meteorites and represented samples of several different 
types. As a result, the United States and Japan conducted systematic 
follow-up searches for meteorites in Antarctica that recovered more 
than 40,000 specimens, including extremely rare Martian and lunar 
meteorites. 

Researchers found Wassonite surrounded by additional unknown minerals 
that are being investigated. The mineral is less than one-hundredth 
the width of a human hair or 50x450 nanometers. It would have been 
impossible to discover without NASA's transmission electron 
microscope, which is capable of isolating the Wassonite grains and 
determining their chemical composition and atomic structure. 

"More secrets of the universe can be revealed from these specimens 
using 21st century nano-technology," said Nakamura-Messenger. 

The new mineral's name was approved by the International Mineralogical 
Association. It honors John T. Wasson, professor at the University of 
California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Wasson is known for his achievements 
across a broad swath of meteorite and impact research, including the 
use of neutron activation data to classify meteorites and to 
formulate models for the chemical makeup of bulk chondrites. 

"Meteorites, and the minerals within them, are windows to the 
formation of our solar system," said Lindsay Keller, space scientist 
at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Keller is the 
co-discoverer and principal investigator of the microscope used to 
analyze the Wassonite crystals. "Through these kinds of studies we 
can learn about the conditions that existed and the processes that 
were occurring then." 

Johnson's advanced work in nanotechnology is part of the center's 
Astromaterial Research and Exploration Science Directorate. It is 
currently the location for celestial materials that would be returned 
to Earth from spacecraft. The facility collaborates with industry, 
academic and international organizations. 

"The beauty of this research is that it really demonstrates how the 
Johnson Space Center has become a pre-eminent leader in the field of 
nanoscale analysis," said Simon Clemett, a space scientist at Johnson 
and co-discoverer of the new mineral. "In the words of the great 
English poet William Blake, we are now able 'to see the world in a 
grain of sand'. 

Collaborators in the discovery of the new mineral include Clemett, 
Keller and Zia Rahman in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration 
Science Directorate at Johnson; Alan Rubin from UCLA; Byeon-Gak Choi 
from Seoul National University, South Korea; Shouliang Zhang from the 
Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston; and Katsunari Oikawa from 
Tohoku University, Japan. 

To see images of Wassonite, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/wassonite.html 
	
-end-