Unboxing Space Rocks

• Main Author: Bruck Syal, Megan
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1252993; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1252993

The box was inconspicuous, but Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) postdoctoral researcher Megan Bruck Syal immediately knew its contents: two meteorites around the size of walnuts. They formed about 4.6 billion years ago and survived a history of violent collisions in the asteroid belt before being bumped into a near-Earth-object orbit by gravitational interactions with the planets. After finally raining down on Earth, these rocks were scavenged in Antarctica by researchers, sorted and classified at NASA Johnson Space Center, then mailed first-class to Bruck Syal. Now that these space rocks are in Bruck Syal’s hands, they are mere months away from fulfilling their destiny. They are to be vaporized by a high-powered laser, and the data they yield on asteroid deflection could one day save the planet.