Investigation of Crystalline Structures Known to be Components of Comets and Asteroids and The Effect High Velocity Impacts have on Their Infrared Absorbencies

Comets and asteroids are the key to understanding the evolution of our universe. A deeper understanding of the impact history of these objects has the potential to mold future study, and enlighten us on the early history of our solar system. If signatures in the infrared spectra of these objects were altered due to collisions, then the impact history of a comet or asteroid could be constrained by analyzing features in infrared wavelength spectra (obtained with telescopes) of these objects. We conducted high velocity impact experiments in the Experimental Impact Laboratory at Johnson Space Center NASA to investigate potential shifts in the infrared absorption bands caused by high velocity impacts. These experiments were conducted with minerals known to be components of asteroids and comets from signatures in telescopic data. Minerals such as magnesium rich silicates (e.g. olivines and pyroxenes) underwent high velocity impacts using a high velocity vertical gun. We tested samples impacted at speeds ranging from 1.8 to 2.6 kilometers per second under various conditions and measured the resulting samples with a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) and compared the results to non-impacted minerals. Our research suggests that high velocity impacts do modify the infrared spectra of the mineral