TY - JOUR
T1 - Chemical characterization of the extraterrestrial material returned by future space mission
T2 - An application of nuclear activation methods
AU - Ebihara, M.
AU - Oura, Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper was presented at the 34th COSPAR/2nd WSC in October, 2002 in Houston. We thank H. Yano and A. Fujiwara of ISAS for giving one of authors (M.E.) a chance to deliver the paper at the conference. This work was financially supported in part by a grant-in-aid of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Japan (No. 11440167 to M.E.) and also by ISAS.
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - Assuming an application to the unknown extraterrestrial samples recovered and returned by spacecraft in near future, we propose an analytical scheme to characterize those samples in chemical compositions. The analytical procedure consists of three nuclear analytical methods, i.e., neutron-induced prompt gamma ray analysis (PGA), instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and instrumental photon activation analysis (IPAA). In this scheme, the sample is first analyzed by PGA, which is followed by IPAA and INAA. These methods are methodologically described, with emphasizing their advantages and disadvantages. With applying such an analytical scheme to unknown samples, we evaluated two issues; elemental and isotopic effects left in samples analyzed by PGA and the ordering of INAA and IPAA. Among three analytical methods, PGA is acknowledged to be highly significant for the initial analysis of unknown extraterrestrial samples, because it non-destructively yields sufficient data of elemental compositions to classify them into known groups of meteorites without producing noticeable effects in chemical and isotopic compositions.
AB - Assuming an application to the unknown extraterrestrial samples recovered and returned by spacecraft in near future, we propose an analytical scheme to characterize those samples in chemical compositions. The analytical procedure consists of three nuclear analytical methods, i.e., neutron-induced prompt gamma ray analysis (PGA), instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and instrumental photon activation analysis (IPAA). In this scheme, the sample is first analyzed by PGA, which is followed by IPAA and INAA. These methods are methodologically described, with emphasizing their advantages and disadvantages. With applying such an analytical scheme to unknown samples, we evaluated two issues; elemental and isotopic effects left in samples analyzed by PGA and the ordering of INAA and IPAA. Among three analytical methods, PGA is acknowledged to be highly significant for the initial analysis of unknown extraterrestrial samples, because it non-destructively yields sufficient data of elemental compositions to classify them into known groups of meteorites without producing noticeable effects in chemical and isotopic compositions.
KW - Activation analysis
KW - Chemical characterization
KW - Extraterrestrial materials
KW - Nuclera analytical methods
KW - Space mission
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U2 - 10.1016/j.asr.2004.06.004
DO - 10.1016/j.asr.2004.06.004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:9444261914
VL - 34
SP - 2305
EP - 2310
JO - Life sciences and space research
JF - Life sciences and space research
SN - 0273-1177
IS - 11
ER -