Multispectral Microlmaging for Meteoritics

Statement of Work The goal of the proposed work is to address the following: What inferences can we draw from in vestigating meteorites with multispectral infrared micro imaging (MMI)? Compare to examination of thin section s with a conventional petrographic microscope. Towards meeting this goal, we plan to investigate with the MMI, a va riety of meteorite types in the co llection in the Ce nter for Meteorite Stud ies. We will analyze at least one meteorite from each of the major classes of silicate-rich meteorites in the collection (particularly the different kinds of chondritic and achondrit ic samples) and compare the analyses with petrographic information obtained for these meteorites based on optical microscopy. Particular emphasis will be placed on the analys is of planetary meteorites, i.e., the martian and lunar meteorites in t he co llection .