TY - JOUR
T1 - Irradiation history of itokawa regolith material deduced from noble gases in the hayabusa samples
AU - Nagao, Keisuke
AU - Okazaki, Ryuji
AU - Nakamura, Tomoki
AU - Miura, Yayoi N.
AU - Osawa, Takahito
AU - Bajo, Ken Ichi
AU - Matsuda, Shintaro
AU - Ebihara, Mitsuru
AU - Ireland, Trevor R.
AU - Kitajima, Fumio
AU - Naraoka, Hiroshi
AU - Noguchi, Takaaki
AU - Tsuchiyama, Akira
AU - Yurimoto, Hisayoshi
AU - Zolensky, Michael E.
AU - Uesugi, Masayuki
AU - Shirai, Kei
AU - Abe, Masanao
AU - Yada, Toru
AU - Ishibashi, Yukihiro
AU - Fujimura, Akio
AU - Mukai, Toshifumi
AU - Ueno, Munetaka
AU - Okada, Tatsuaki
AU - Yoshikawa, Makoto
AU - Kawaguchi, Junichiro
PY - 2011/8/26
Y1 - 2011/8/26
N2 - Noble gas isotopes were measured in three rocky grains from asteroid Itokawa to elucidate a history of irradiation from cosmic rays and solar wind on its surface. Large amounts of solar helium (He), neon (Ne), and argon (Ar) trapped in various depths in the grains were observed, which can be explained by multiple implantations of solar wind particles into the grains, combined with preferential He loss caused by frictional wear of space-weathered rims on the grains. Short residence time of less than 8 million years was implied for the grains by an estimate on cosmic-ray-produced 21Ne. Our results suggest that Itokawa is continuously losing its surface materials into space at a rate of tens of centimeters per million years. The lifetime of Itokawa should be much shorter than the age of our solar system.
AB - Noble gas isotopes were measured in three rocky grains from asteroid Itokawa to elucidate a history of irradiation from cosmic rays and solar wind on its surface. Large amounts of solar helium (He), neon (Ne), and argon (Ar) trapped in various depths in the grains were observed, which can be explained by multiple implantations of solar wind particles into the grains, combined with preferential He loss caused by frictional wear of space-weathered rims on the grains. Short residence time of less than 8 million years was implied for the grains by an estimate on cosmic-ray-produced 21Ne. Our results suggest that Itokawa is continuously losing its surface materials into space at a rate of tens of centimeters per million years. The lifetime of Itokawa should be much shorter than the age of our solar system.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=80052171193&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.1207785
DO - 10.1126/science.1207785
M3 - Article
C2 - 21868672
AN - SCOPUS:80052171193
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 333
SP - 1128
EP - 1131
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6046
ER -