Nearly 200 Meteorites From Mars Have Been Discovered On Earth

Researchers have performed numerical simulations to explore the launch mechanism of Martian meteorites. According to the knowledge of shock physics, a strong shock compression higher than 50 GPa is required to accelerate Martian materials up to the escape velocity of Mars (5 km/s). In contrast, detailed analysis of Martian meteorites shows that they suffer only 30-50 GPa during the ejection. The researchers found that a material pileup in an excavation flow causes a significant velocity boost of materials near the surface without  strong compression. This newly discovered "late-stage acceleration" could play an important role not only in the launch of Martian meteorites, but also in the context of the (Litho-) Panspermia.

One hundred and ninety-eight meteorites from Mars have been discovered on Earth as of Sep. 2017. Hypervelocity impacts on Mars have been a widely accepted mechanism that launches Martian rocks into the space. Petrographic analyses of the Martian meteorites have shown that they suffer relatively low peak pressure ranging from 30 to 50 GPa during impact ejection events. In contrast, shock physics tells us that a stronger shock compression higher than 50 GPa is required to accelerate materials up to the escape velocity of Mars (5 km/s). This contradiction between petrology and shock physics was the outstanding problem regarding the Martian meteorites' launch.

The researchers numerically modeled a vertical impact onto the Martian surface using two independent hydrocodes (iSALE code and SPH code) to explore the launch mechanism of the Martian meteorites. The impact-driven pressure field and material movements near the impact point has been investigated in detail. The maximum spatial resolution in the computation employed in this study is one order of magnitude higher than that used in the previous studies.

The research team found that a velocity boost of surface materials occurs due to a material pileup in an impact-driven excavation flow without strong shock compression. The newly discovered velocity boost mechanism has been named "late-stage acceleration". The parts of the ejecta mass that experienced 30-50 GPa and were ejected higher than 5 km/s were investigated. Although the mass is limited to 0.1-1% of the projectile mass, this is sufficient for hypervelocity impacts to have been a plausible mechanism for the ejection of Martian meteorites.

The new discovery of late-stage acceleration has a wide range of implications not only for the Martian meteorites' launch, but also for material exchange amongst planetary bodies. Since microbes may survive the relatively weak shock compression, the late-stage acceleration could provide us with new insight into (Litho-) Panspermia. The researchers are planning to do a series of hypervelocity impact experiments to validate the numerically discovered new mechanism using a two-stage light gas gun installed at the Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan.

(Image provided with Chiba Institute of Technology news release)

FMI: www.it-chiba.ac.jp/english