Guy Libourel¹ and Catherine M. Corrigan²

¹Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, and CRPG, CNRS UMR 7358, Université de Lorraine BP20, 54501 Vandœuvre les Nancy, France
²Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History 10th St. and Constitution Ave. NW, MRC 119, Washington, DC 20056, USA

At present, we know of ~600,000 asteroids in the asteroid belt, and there are very likely millions more. Orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, they are thought to be the shattered remnants of small bodies formed within the young Sun’s solar nebula that never accreted enough material to become planets. These “minor bodies” are therefore keys to understanding how the Solar System formed and evolved. As leftover planetary building blocks, they are of great importance in understanding planetary compositions. They may also provide clues to the origin of life, as similar bodies may have delivered organics and water to the early Earth. For these reasons, several international space agencies have funded sample-return missions to asteroids.

Reference
Libourel G and Corrigan CM (2014) Asteroids: New Challenges, New Targets. Elements 10:11-17.
[doi:10.2113/gselements.10.1.11]
Copyright: The Mineralogical Society of America

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