¹A. Tavernier,^2,3G. A. Pinto,^4,5,6M. Valenzuela,¹A. Garcia,¹C. Ulloa,⁷R. Oses,^8,9,10,11B. H. Foing
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13972]
¹Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, IDICTEC, Laboratorio de Investigacion de la Criosfera y Aguas, Universidad de Atacama, UDA, Copiapó, Chile
²Instituto de Investigación en Astronomía y Ciencias Planetarias, INCT, Universidad de Atacama, UDA, Copiapó, Chile
³Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, CRPG, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France
⁴Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Católica del Norte, UCN, Antofagasta, Chile
⁵Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, MAS, Santiago, Chile
⁶Center for Excellence in Astrophysics and Associated Technologies, CATA, Santiago, Chile
⁷Centro Regional de Investigacion y Desarrollo Sustentable de Atacama, CRIDESAT, Universidad de Atacama, UDA, Copiapó, Chile
⁸Instituto de Investigación en Astronomía y Ciencias Planetarias, INCT, Universidad de Atacama, UDA, Copiapó, Chile
⁹International Lunar Exploration Working Group, ILEWG, EuroMoonMars, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
¹⁰Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, VUA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
¹¹Universiteit Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

In 2019, while launching a multidisciplinary research project aimed at developing the Puna de Atacama region as a natural laboratory, investigators at the University of Atacama (Chile) conducted a bibliographic search identifying previously studied geographic points of the region and of potential interest for planetary science and astrobiology research. This preliminary work highlighted a significant absence of local institutional involvement in international publications. In light of this, a follow-up study was conducted to confirm or refute these first impressions, by comparing the search in two bibliographic databases: Web of Science and Scopus. The results show that almost 60% of the publications based directly on data from the Puna, the Altiplano, or the Atacama Desert with objectives related to planetary science or astrobiology do not include any local institutional partner (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru). Indeed, and beyond the ethical questioning of international collaborations, Latin-American planetary science deserves a strategic structuring, networking, as well as a road map at national and continental scales, not only to enhance research, development, and innovation, but also to protect an exceptional natural heritage sampling extreme environmental niches on Earth. Examples of successful international collaborations such as the field of meteorites, terrestrial analogs, and space exploration in Chile or astrobiology in Mexico are given as illustrations and possible directions to follow to develop planetary science in South America. To promote appropriate scientific practices involving local researchers, possible responses at academic and institutional levels will eventually be discussed.

¹I. Kouvatsis,¹J.A. Cartwright,²M.J. Whitehouse
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2023.03.026]
¹Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
²Department of Geosciences, Swedish Museum of Natural History, SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
Copyright Elsevier

Asteroid 4 Vesta is the largest known differentiated body in the asteroid belt, and is thought to be the likely parent body of howardite, eucrite, and diogenite (HED) meteorites. Howardites likely represent the vestan surface, eucrites likely crystallized as lavas in the upper crust, and diogenites likely originated from a plutonic layer deep in the crust. HEDs are potentially linked to another group of meteorites: the stony-iron mesosiderite group, due to mineralogical, geochemical, and isotopic similarities. Collision and disruption processes in the asteroid belt are key to understanding the evolution of asteroids, with impact events generating significant volumes of melt, which, if dated, can provide information on the timing and nature of such events. We performed in situ lead-lead (Pb-Pb) dating using Secondary Ionization Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) on melt clasts (mainly comprised of pyroxene, plagioclase, ± iron-nickel metal and/or glass) in two eucrites (Serra Pelada and Northwest Africa (NWA) 2696) and phosphates targeted within three mesosiderites (Vaca Muerta, Hainholz, and Estherville), respectively. The eucrite melt clasts yielded ages of 4520 ± 11 Ma and 4528.6 ± 6.3 Ma, in Serra Pelada and NWA 2696, respectively, and are likely indicative of a major heating event, such as an impact, metamorphism due to burial, or prolonged magmatism on the parent body. Our results from targeted mesosiderite phosphate analysis yielded a younger age range of ∼3968 – 4112 Ma, similar to ages reported previously for phosphate analysis in eucrites, as well as the broad range observed previously for many HEDs, and towards the upper end of the age range observed in lunar materials. These data may suggest a period of increased impact flux or possibly several higher-magnitude impacts on the mesosiderite parent body within that timeframe. Our results add further support to the likelihood of the existence of (at least) two different parent bodies for the HEDs (Vesta) and mesosiderites (Mesosiderite Parent Body – MPB).