January 27, 2019

One of Earth's Oldest Rocks May Have Been Found...on the Moon (Source: Syfy)
The rock in question is part of a much larger one found on the Moon by the Apollo 14 astronauts. It’s officially called 14321 — nicknamed Big Bertha — with a mass of about 9 kilograms and a width of about 23 centimeters. It was found near the 300-meter-wide Cone impact crater, which itself is inside the much larger 80-kilometer-wide Fra Mauro crater. Cone is on a large series of hills running through Fra Mauro, and that’s important:

The material forming those hills is thought to have been ejected by the much larger impact that formed Mare Imbrium, a lava flood plain well over 1,000 kilometers across. After the impact, that stuff rained down on Fra Mauro, creating those hills. Why is that important? Given that it’s part of the Fra Mauro formation and therefore ejected during the Imbrium impact, it’s likely rock 14321 came from deep down in the lunar crust, from 30 – 70 kilometers deep, near the base of the crust, and was blown out by the ferocious energy of the impact.

Rock 14321 is a breccia, composed of different rocks cemented together. The pieces, called clasts, can have very different compositions and structures. One clast with a mass of just under 2 grams was studied some years ago, and fragments from it (created when the clast was sawed off the main rock) under a millimeter in size were examined using this new technique. The scientists found it to be pretty peculiar. The titanium and zircon in it showed signs of crystallizing at a depth of 167 km, much deeper than you’d expect for Imbrium ejecta. The structure also indicated it formed at lower temperatures than expected for lunar magma, and in a higher oxygen environment than the Moon had 4 billion years ago. (1/25)

U.S. Mint unveils Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
The United States Mint unveiled a series of commemorative coins celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. Opening the ceremony, Delaware North Companies’ chief operating officer for the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Therrin Protze, addressed the audience. “As we celebrate the past, we are also excited about the future,” Protze said. “Our goal is to inspire minds through engaging space experiences. We want to educate that young generation … so they know what’s going on in space exploration and our space pioneer missions.”

Representing Congressman Bill Posey of the 8th District of Florida, Chief of Staff Stuart Burns said “there was nothing like Apollo 11 and there has been nothing like it since.” In a bipartisan effort, sponsorship legislation passed both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate for the commemorative coin and on Dec. 16, 2016, it was signed by President Obama. Burns said the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin celebrates not only the innovative spirit and resolve that defined the Apollo Program but also it’s estimated 400,000 Americans across the country who contributed to its success. (1/25)