Laboratory reproduction of possible solar system plasma effects

Abstract

Summary form only given. Soon after spacecraft pictures of Lunar surface features became available for detailed analysis, some analysts noted a strong similarity between some of the Lunar craters thought to be caused by impacts of meteorites and craters on surfaces of various materials in the laboratory known to be caused by plasma discharges. While conducting research about the effects of plasma discharges we independently noticed the similarity of many of the surface features of bodies in the solar system and the surface features of a number of the materials we were testing for other reasons. One of the features was spherules on the surface, in a crater on the surface and buried within the material. One type of spherule is made from hematite and is similar to those found on Mars. This work was reported at the April 2005 meeting of the American Physical Society. We also created other surface features in the plasma laboratory that resemble other features found on the surfaces of solar system bodies. These included craters with rims, rimless craters, craters with dome appearing structures, canyons and radial patterns of surface disturbance. Samples included various materials that were powders and solids. Plasmas were created with a variety of power supplies including 12,000 volts at 120 MA to over 100,000 volts at 4 MA