P077-0001
In Situ Geochronology for the Next Decade

Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Poster
Barbara A Cohen1, Kelsey Young2, Nicolle Zellner3, Kris Zacny4, R Aileen Yingst5, Ryan N Watkins5, Sarah Valencia2, Timothy D Swindle6, Stuart J Robbins7, Noah E Petro8, Daniel Moriarty2, Juliane Gross9, JA Grier5, John A Grant III10, Kenneth A Farley11, Bethany L Ehlmann12, Melinda Darby Dyar13, Natalie Curran2, Carolyn H van der Bogert14, Ricardo Arevalo Jr8, F. Scott Anderson15 and The GSFC Engineering Team, (1)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Planetary Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (2)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (3)Albion College, Physics, Albion, MI, United States, (4)Honeybee Robotics, Pasadena, United States, (5)Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, United States, (6)University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, (7)Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, United States, (8)NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (9)Am. Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, United States, (10)Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, Washington, DC, United States, (11)California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (12)California Institute of Technology, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Pasadena, CA, United States, (13)Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, United States, (14)Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany, (15)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
Geochronology, or determination of absolute ages for geologic events, underpins many inquiries into the formation and evolution of planets and our Solar System. The bombardment chronology inferred from lunar samples has played a significant role in the development of models of early Solar System and extrasolar planet dynamics, as well as the timing of volatile, organic, and siderophile element delivery. Absolute ages of ancient and recent magmatic products provide strong constraints on the dynamics of magma oceans and crustal formation, and the longevity and evolution of interior heat engines and distinct mantle/crustal source regions. Absolute dating also relates habitability markers to the timescale of evolution of life on Earth. The number of geochronologically-significant terrains across the inner Solar System far exceeds our ability to conduct sample return to all of them. Therefore NASA has invested in the development of in situ dating techniques; several such instruments will be TRL 6 by the time of the next Decadal Survey. We formulated a set of medium-class (New Frontiers) mission concepts to three different locations (the Moon, Mars, and Vesta) with a notional payload consisting of the CDEX and KArLE instruments to measure radiometric ages, an imaging spectrometer and optical cameras to provide site geologic context and sample characterization, an ICP-MS to augment sample contextualization, and a sample acquisition and handling system. A Vesta hopper and single-site lunar and Mars landers to advance Solar System chronology fit into the New Frontiers cost cap in our study. Such missions would also enable a broad suite of geologic investigations such as basic geologic characterization, geomorphologic analysis, establishing ground truth for remote sensing analyses, analyses of major, minor, trace, and volatile elements, atmospheric and other long-lived monitoring, organic molecule analyses, and soil and geotechnical properties.
Previous Abstract | Next Abstract >>