How Mössbauer spectroscopy can be of value to industry to select extraterrestrial objects for natural resources

Abstract

Space agencies are working on the project of capturing asteroids which contain natural resources valuable for industry. Based on studies of meteorites samples it was determined that the most useful source of raw materials for this purpose could be parent bodies of ordinary chondrites of type H. The identification of the type of ordinary chondrites with the use of a classical method (determination of the Fa/Fs ratio (fayalite versus ferrosilite) by electron microprobe measurements) cannot be performed on the surface of asteroids due to technical reasons. It may, however, be done based on Mössbauer measurements followed by the application of the 4M method. The name of the method – 4M, comes from four words: Meteorites, Mössbauer spectroscopy, Multidimensional discriminant analysis and Mahalanobis distance. Following the success of Mössbauer spectroscopy in the mission on Mars, there are suggestions to use the same method for the investigation of the surface of asteroids. In our experimental study, in which five Mössbauer laboratories took part, we assessed the effectiveness and reliability of the 4M method by comparison of the results obtained by Mössbauer studies of ordinary chondrites of type H, L and LL. Details of the study and problems related to the effectiveness of the 4M method are discussed.