Projectile Remnants in Central Peaks of Lunar Impact Craters

Mining & Minerals - Evaluations / Off-World Exploration, Mining, & Technology

Date posted: 07/12/13

Z. Yue,B. C. Johnson, D. A. Minton,H. J. Melosh,K. Di,W. Hu & Y. Liu Nature Geoscience 6, pp. 435-437 (2013) doi:10.1038/ngeo1828 They find that for vertical impact velocities below about 12kms/1, the projectile may both survive the impact and be swept back into the central peak of the final crater as it collapses, although it would be fragmented and strongly deformed. We conclude that some unusual minerals observed in the central peaks of many lunar impact craters could be exogenic in origin and may not be indigenous to the Moon.