¹Qian W. L. Zhang et al. (>10)
Nature 643, 356-360 Open Access Link to Article [DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08382-0]
¹State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

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^1,2Yiheng Dai,^1,2Zhiheng Xie,^1,2Zezhou Li,^2,3Tianyi Jia,^2,3Ruimin Wang,⁴Zongjun Yin,^2,3Bing Shen,^1,2Jihan Zhou
Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets)(in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JE009028]
¹Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Center for Integrated Spectroscopy, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China
²Research Institute of Extraterrestrial Material at Peking University (RIEMPKU), Beijing, China
³Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
⁴State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Meteoroid impacts, a key process of space weathering, significantly alter the structures, compositions and properties of lunar regolith. However, the phase separation phenomena, common in lunar regolith and induced by impact, remain poorly understood. This uncertainty arises from the structural complexity and the scarcity of identified impact-induced phase separation features. Here we report the impact-induced formation of chemically distinct amorphous silicate nanodroplets, including iron-rich droplets within a silicon-rich glass matrix and vice versa, on the surface of a Chang’e-5 lunar regolith grain. These nanodroplets are partially ripened aggregates, and their formation is attributed to metastable liquid immiscibility driven by local chemical heterogeneities and rapid quenching. Additionally, troilite-kamacite remnants and skeletal crystallites of ilmenite and apatite provide direct evidence of impact and fast post-impact quenching, respectively. These findings suggest that quenched impact melts in airless bodies can undergo unmixing, forming immiscible conjugated nanodroplets, and exhibiting diverse behaviors under specific post-impact conditions.

¹Xue Su,¹Youxue Zhang,²Yang Liu,¹Robert M. Holder
Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets)(in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JE009027]
¹Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
²Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Volcanic glass beads on the Moon have traditionally been thought to only record volatile loss during pyroclastic eruptions. However, recent discoveries have shown that lunar orange glass beads, representing primitive high-Ti basalts, experienced both outgassing and in-gassing of volatile elements such as Na, K, Cu, and S. In this work, we examine lunar green glass beads from samples 15421 and 15366, representing primitive very-low-Ti basalts, for the distribution of Na, K and Cu using EMP analyses and LA-ICP-MS mapping. It is found that all studied lunar green beads show increased Na, K and Cu concentrations near the bead surfaces, indicative of in-gassing. A quantitative model was developed to simulate the concentration evolution of Na and Cu in individual green glass beads during eruption and cooling. The presence of similar in-gassing diffusion profiles of volatile elements in beads from different eruptions indicates a common behavior of lunar volcanic gas. In addition to volatile in-gassing, LA-ICP-MS mapping of Na and K in one green bead from sample 15366 shows features suggesting collision of melt droplets during the fire-fountain eruption, revealing more details in the dynamic aspects of lunar fire-fountain eruptions. Compared to orange glass beads, the varying boundary conditions of green glass beads during formation may suggest that their eruption plume evolved and dissipated more rapidly, potentially linked to changes in the global lunar atmosphere.

^1,4Anna-Irene Landi, ²Michael Gaft, ³Cristian Carli, ³Fabrizio Capaccioni, ⁴Giovanni Pratesi
Icarus (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2025.116725]
¹Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Trento, Via Sommarive, 14, 38123 Trento, Italy.
²Ariel University, Kiryat Hamada, Ariel 40700, Israel.
³INAF-IAPS, Area della Ricerca Tor Vergata, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁴Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via G. La Pira, 4, 50121 Firenze, Italy
Copyright Elsevier

Rantila aubrite fell in Rantila, Gujarat, India, in August 2022. This study aims to investigate the mineralogy and mineral-chemistry of three fragments of this meteorite and correlate them reflectance spectroscopy in the visible and near-infrared spectral range (VNIR) and Laser-Induced Time-Resolved Luminescence (LITRL). Aubrites’ very low Fe2+ content prevents luminescence quenching under UV light exposure, allowing these meteorites to exhibit well-defined luminescence. The investigated samples have different appearances. One consists of a light-coloured portion primarily composed of FeO-free enstatite, along with forsterite, diopside, plagioclase, minor sulphides (troilite, alabandite, daubréelite, and (Fe,Ca,Mn,Mg)S), and kamacite. The second sample is composed mainly of the same light-coloured portion and hosts a dark forsterite clast. The third sample is mainly made of dark glass. Minor terrestrial weathering is observed, with the detection of sporadic iron oxides/hydroxides. The chemical composition of the detected phases indicates highly reducing conditions during the formation, as expected for an aubrite. The mineral chemistry is similar between the different fragments in terms of major elements concentrations, some differences are observed for minor elements. Luminescence spectra indicate Cr3+ and Mn2+ as activators in diopside and forsterite, respectively, for two of the three samples. Ce3+ is the activator in the third sample, which lacks forsterite and has lower Cr2O3 contents in diopside compared to the other two samples. Therefore, the differences in mineral chemistry observed through electron microprobe analysis (EPMA) are further emphasized by luminescence data. Investigating the luminescence behaviour could provide a valuable contribution to the mineralogical-petrological study of these materials. VNIR reflectance spectra are consistent with low Fesingle bondCa pyroxene and forsterite. The main absorption typical of mafic minerals (~0.9 μm) is deeper than what has previously been observed in aubrites: this can be related to the slightly higher FeO concentrations, which, despite being very low (<0.4 wt%), still contribute to the absorption. Absorption features at ~1.4 μm and ~ 1.9 μm are consistent with low terrestrial weathering presence. Increasing the knowledge of the correlation between spectral properties and mineralogy/mineral chemistry on highly reduced meteorites will be useful for future investigation of Mercury with the ESA’s BepiColombo mission, specifically for the interpretation of the data expected from the Spectrometer and Imagers for MPO BepiColombo Integrated Observatory SYStem (SIMBIO-SYS)/Visible and near Infrared Hyperspectral Imager (VIHI) and Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) instruments.

¹Tetsushi Sakurai, ²Takuya Ishizaki, ¹Akiko M. Nakamura
Icarus (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2025.116729]
¹Department of Planetology, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe-city, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan
²Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara-city, Kanagawa 252-5210, Japan
Copyright Elsevier

Planetesimals underwent consolidation processes in the early solar system, which altered their thermal and mechanical properties. Sintering—a process that forms solid necks between particles—is considered one such process in planetesimals, influencing their filling factor, or porosity, as well as their thermal and mechanical properties.
In this study, to better constrain and understand the thermal and mechanical properties of planetesimals that evolved from initially powdery or granular bodies, as well as those of boulders on small bodies, which are considered remnant planetesimals, we prepared porous sintered samples consisting of glass particles with filling factors ranging from 0.35 to 0.75, corresponding to porosities of 65 % to 25 %. We then measured their thermal diffusivity, elastic wave velocity, and flexural strength, and derived empirical relationships for the normalized values—scaled by those at a filling factor of 1—as functions of filling factor or porosity. The normalized thermal diffusivities and elastic wave velocities of the sintered glass materials in this study showed similar dependencies on the filling factor. Moreover, the upper limits of the normalized elastic wave velocities were consistent with those of snow at corresponding filling factors, suggesting that these upper limits may be independent of the matrix material.
The derived empirical relationships apply to materials with porosities higher than those of meteorites. We estimated the porosity of a low-thermal-inertia boulder on the surface of asteroid Ryugu based on its thermal inertia, assuming no influence from internal cracks. The result suggests that the boulder’s porosity may be higher than values previously reported, and should be regarded as one of the possible porosity estimates.

^1,2,3A. I. Sheen,¹C. D. K. Herd,^2,3K. T. Tait
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70002]
¹Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
²Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
³Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Accurate dating of Martian meteorites is crucial for understanding key events in the planet’s evolution. However, not all Martian meteorites are amenable to dating techniques currently in use for these rocks. The priority of sample preservation precludes mineral separation methods for low-volume specimens, whereas the less destructive in situ SIMS U-Pb method depends on the availability of U-bearing accessory minerals. Micromilling allows for spatially guided sampling of target phases down to the sub-mm scale, therefore enabling chromatography-based analysis while preserving the overall specimen. This study presents an evaluation of micromill sampling for extracting individual mineral fractions in situ from shergottites, the most common group of Martian meteorites, for Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd geochronology. Based on trace element content in major minerals in shergottites (pyroxene, plagioclase, olivine, and merrillite) and assuming that a minimum load size of 0.25 ng Sr and 1 ng Nd is required to achieve baseline isotopic precision (2σ of ~240 ppm on 87Sr/86Sr and ~100 ppm on 143Nd/144Nd), the minimum required sample volume ranges in the orders of 105–107 μm3 for one Sr isotopic analysis and 105–109 μm3 for one Nd isotopic analysis. Considering the need for sample purity, significant limitations exist in the maximum sampling resolution of the micromill instrument (~40 μm for the conical carbide drill bit chosen for this study) with respect to shergottite petrography. Insufficient grain size, irregular morphology, and the presence of small inclusions may reduce the area that can be drilled per grain. Shock-induced fractures, which sometimes act as pathways for terrestrial alteration, are pervasive in shergottites and create additional challenges for effective high-purity sampling of the target phase. In addition, variation in trace element content in the target phases may result in the realistically required drilling volumes being orders of magnitude greater than the minimum estimates. Lastly, estimated drilling time per fraction may reach over 5 h for pyroxene (Sr, Nd), plagioclase (Nd), and olivine (Sr, Nd), increasing the susceptibility to a larger procedural blank as well as requiring constant, labor-intensive monitoring for long durations. Based on these technical and physical constraints, we do not consider micromill sampling to be currently compatible with Sr isotopic analysis of olivine and Nd isotopic analysis of pyroxene, plagioclase, and olivine in shergottites. The feasibility of geochronology applications may be improved with future advances in analytical development, such as increasing the micromill sampling resolution and reducing the load size required for isotopic analysis.

¹Libby D. Tunney,²Aaron B. Regberg,¹Christopher D. K. Herd,³Richard E. Davis,⁴Christian L. Castro
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70008]
¹Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
²Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
³Texas State University, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
⁴JES Tech, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Meteorites are easily contaminated at the Earth’s surface by microbial activity. Here, DNA extracts from two meteorite specimens and samples from curation laboratory surfaces are analyzed with amplicon sequencing, to understand microbial communities that contaminate meteorites and that may be resident in curation facilities. In addition, two different DNA extraction kits, the PowerSoil DNA Isolation Kit and the QIAamp UCP Pathogen Mini Kit, are utilized to determine if certain kits are more favorable for low biomass studies of meteorites. We find that, regardless of the type of kit used, the majority of microbial taxa that dominate meteorite and meteorite curation environments include those that are prevalent in soils or in the human microbiome. Our results have implications for advanced curation methods to protect the intrinsic properties of meteorites, such as extraterrestrial organics and minerals, from microbes. Preserving meteorites in pristine states and understanding the complex relationship between meteorites and terrestrial microbes can inform our search for the origin of life or life elsewhere in the universe.

¹Philip R. Christensen,²Victoria E. Hamilton,¹Saadat Anwar,¹Greg Mehall,²John R. Spencer,³Jessica M. Sunshine,²Harold F. Levison
Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JE008493]
¹School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
²Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
³University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

The Lucy Thermal Emission Spectrometer (L’TES) instrument acquired hyperspectral thermal infrared (TIR) observations of the Earth’s Moon during Lucy’s 2022 Earth gravity assist. L’TES covers the spectral range of 100–1,750 cm−1 (100–5.8 μm) at a spectral sampling of 8.64 cm−1 (Christensen et al., 2023, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-023-01029-y). The field of view (FOV) is 7.3-mrad, giving a spatial resolution on the Moon of 1,650 km. Seventeen high-quality spectra of the warm disk were acquired of Oceanus Procellarum that provide the first well-calibrated TIR observations of the Moon with high spectral resolution. The lunar surface emissivity was determined by modeling the surface radiance using two different methods that gave nearly identical results. The L’TES spectra have Christiansen feature (CF) maxima at 1,226 cm−1 (8.15 μm), a spectral band depth of ∼0.04, and a downward slope at wavenumbers >1,200 cm−1 that is characteristic of <100 μm particles. Comparison with Diviner 3-point spectral data (Greenhagen et al., 2010, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192196) shows excellent agreement in the CF location and band shape. The L’TES spectra closely match several lunar soil laboratory spectra (Donaldson-Hanna et al., 2017, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.05.034), providing excellent ground truth for the L’TES observations, validating the L’TES data processing, and demonstrating that high-spatial and spectral resolution TIR data would provide a powerful tool for remote compositional mapping. The L’TES nightside observations accurately derived surface temperatures at 110 K, even when the Moon only filled 10% of the FOV, confirming that L’TES will accurately determine the cold Trojan asteroid temperatures.

¹Edwin S. Kite,²Benjamin M. Tutolo,¹Madison L. Turner,³Heather B. Franz,³David G. Burtt,⁴Thomas F. Bristow,⁵Woodward W. Fischer,⁶Ralph E. Milliken,⁷Abigail A. Fraeman,¹Daniel Y. Zhou
Nature 643, 60-66. Open Access Link to Article [DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09161-1]
¹University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
²University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
³NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
⁴NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
⁵California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
⁶Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
⁷Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

We currently do not have a copyright agreement with this publisher and cannot display the abstract here

¹Lang Zhang, ¹Ai-Cheng Zhang, ¹Xiao-Wen Liu, ²Yan-Jun Guo, ¹Jia-Ni Chen, ³Yuan-Yun Wen, ⁴Qiu-Li Li, ⁴Yu Liu, ⁴Xiao-Xiao Ling, ⁵Jin S. Zhang
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2025.06.032]
¹State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
²CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, China
³Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
⁴State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
⁵Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Copyright Elsevier

Mineralogical records of strong shock metamorphism (around or above 20 GPa) are common in L-group chondrites, Martian meteorites, and lunar meteorites, but rarely reported in Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite (HED) meteorites. Here, we report detailed mineralogical observations of shock-induced features and ion-microprobe merrillite U-Pb ages from the pigeonite cumulate eucrite Northwest Africa (NWA) 8326. Shock-induced mineralogical features in NWA 8326 contain: (i) planar fractures in pyroxene and partial maskelynitization of plagioclase; (ii) presence of high-pressure minerals such as tissintite, stishovite, vacancy-rich augite, super-silicic garnets within melt veins, and xieite, tuite, and reidite in the host rock outside melt veins. We also observed fine-grained clinoenstatite and pigeonite at the edges of shock melt and propose they formed through metastable crystallization. Our study indicates that NWA 8326 experienced shock metamorphism of at least 20 GPa, comparable to those observed in L-group chondrites, Martian meteorites, and lunar meteorites. We propose that the relatively low shock pressures inferred for shocked eucrites in previous investigations could be due to the absence of suitable high-pressure mineralogical indicators. The ion-microprobe 207Pb/206Pb age of merrillite in NWA 8326 is 4238 ± 32 Ma (95 % confidence) and represents the timing of the shock metamorphism. The similarity of the impact ages across NWA 8326, some eucrites, lunar samples/meteorites, and chondrites suggests that there were probably widespread impact events at ∼4.2 Ga in the Solar System.