Evidence of a 4.33 billion year age for the Moon's South Pole-Aitken basin.

The Moon's farside South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin is the largest and oldest visible impact basin in the inner Solar System. Determining the timing of this catastrophic event is key to understanding the onset of the lunar basin-forming epoch, with implications for understanding the impact bombardment history of the inner Solar System. Despite this, the formation age of the SPA basin remains poorly constrained.

Automated Mineralogy Analysis of the Apollo 17 73002 Continuous Core Thin Sections Using QEMSCAN Mapping Techniques.

The Apollo 17 73001/73002 double drive tube, collected at the base of the South Massif in the Taurus-Littrow Valley, was opened in 2019 as part of the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis program (ANGSA). A series of continuous thin sections were prepared capturing the full length of the upper portion of the double drive tube (73002). The aim of this study was to use Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by SCANing electron microscopy (QEMSCAN), to search for clasts of non-lunar meteoritic origin and to analyze the mineralogy and textures within the core.

The potential role of biofilms in promoting fouling formation in radioactive discharge pipelines.

Nuclear facility discharge pipelines accumulate inorganic and microbial fouling and radioactive contamination, however, research investigating the mechanisms that lead to their accumulation is limited. Using the Sellafield discharge pipeline as a model system, this study utilised modified Robbins devices to investigate the potential interplay between inorganic and biological processes in supporting fouling formation and radionuclide uptake. Initial experiments showed polyelectrolytes (present in pipeline effluents), had minimal effects on fouling formation.

The Winchcombe meteorite, a unique and pristine witness from the outer solar system.

Direct links between carbonaceous chondrites and their parent bodies in the solar system are rare. The Winchcombe meteorite is the most accurately recorded carbonaceous chondrite fall. Its pre-atmospheric orbit and cosmic-ray exposure age confirm that it arrived on Earth shortly after ejection from a primitive asteroid.

Constraining the formation and transport of lunar impact glasses using the ages and chemical compositions of Chang'e-5 glass beads.

Impact glasses found in lunar soils provide a possible window into the impact history of the inner solar system. However, their use for precise reconstruction of this history is limited by an incomplete understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for their origin and distribution and possible relationships to local and regional geology. Here, we report U-Pb isotopic dates and chemical compositions of impact glasses from the Chang'e-5 soil and quantitative models of impact melt formation and ejection that account for the compositions of these glasses.