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The lunar rock and mineral characterization consortium: Deconstruction and integrated mineralogical, petrologic, and spectroscopic analyses of mare basalts
Author(s) -
ISAACSON Peter J.,
SARBADHIKARI Amit BASU,
PIETERS Carlé M.,
KLIMA Rachel L.,
HIROI Takahiro,
LIU Yang,
TAYLOR Lawrence A.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
meteoritics and planetary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.09
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 1086-9379
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2010.01148.x
Subject(s) - petrography , basalt , geology , mineral , mineralogy , weathering , geochemistry , characterization (materials science) , endmember , hyperspectral imaging , materials science , nanotechnology , remote sensing , metallurgy
– 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.