THE DETECTION OF ORGANIC-RICH MATERIAL ON CERES IS ONE OF THE DAWN MISSION S MOST TANTALIZING DISCOVERIES. VIR DATA INDICATE THAT THE ORGANICS ARE ALIPHATIC (I.E. COMPOSED OF CHAINS OF C AND H ATOMS) AND LOCALIZED NEAR ERNUTET CRATER WITH A SMALLER EXPOSURE NEAR INAMAHARI CRATER. WITHIN THE ERNUTET REGION POCKETS OF POTENTIALLY VERY ORGANIC-RICH MATERIAL ARE ASSOCIATED WITH SMALL IMPACT CRATERS (PIETERS ET AL. 2018). TO DATE HOWEVER LITTLE WORK HAS THOROUGHLY EXAMINED HOW IMPACTS AFFECT THE SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF ORGANICS SIMILAR TO THOSE VIR DETECTED ON CERES FOR IMPACT CONDITIONS EXPECTED AT CERES. WE PROPOSE TO REMEDY THIS GAP.
$534,613FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
The Johns Hopkins University