Abstract
Bennu, the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission, is an asteroid with compositions analogous to low petrologic type CI, CM, CR, and/or ungrouped carbonaceous chondrites. Asteroids like Bennu provide information about the building blocks of the early Solar System. Analysis of the mid-infrared remote sensing data informs mineral quantification. We apply a phyllosilicate specific model, developed by Breitenfeld et al. (2021, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021je007035) that distinguishes between Mg and Fe serpentines, to Baseball Diamond 1 (BBD1), equatorial station 3 (EQ3), and touch-and-go OSIRIS-REx thermal emission spectrometer data. The average total phyllosilicate predictions are 73 (BBD1) and 72 vol% (EQ3). We observe higher Fe-cronstedtite and lower Mg-rich serpentine content in the equatorial region of Bennu than average. Mid-infrared spectral variability may be explained by sorting effects through mass movement.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | e2022GL100815 |
Journal | Geophysical Research Letters |
Volume | 49 |
Issue number | 20 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 28 2022 |
Keywords
- Bennu
- OSIRIS-REx
- asteroid
- machine learning
- mineralogy
- phyllosilicates
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geophysics
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences