83 Asteroid Observations, Return Missions, and Meteoritics: Interweaving Perspectives and Data
The new age of sample return missions affords opportunities to intercalibrate observational and laboratory results. This session invites studies using observational tools, return mission data and materials, and meteorites to advance our knowledge of asteroids.
Monday, 20 October 2025
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
HBGCC, 214A
The Search for the Source of Carbonaceous Near-Earth Asteroids
Paper number: 83-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:20 AM – 8:40 AM
Authors
Abstract
Two planetary science spacecraft, Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx, visited and returned samples from two Apollo carbonaceous Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs), (162173) Ryugu and (101955) Bennu, respectively. Carbonaceous NEAs hold valuable historical records of the early solar system and contain volatiles and complex organics, important key elements that are relevant to life on Earth. These NEAs are likely fragments that resulted from collisions within asteroid families in the inner main belt (IMB) and were subsequently delivered to their current orbits in the near-Earth space by dynamical mechanisms that facilitate asteroid mixing in the solar system. Seven carbonaceous collisional low-albedo asteroid families have been identified in the low-inclination region of the IMB: New Polana, Eulalia, Erigone, Sulamitis, Clarissa, Chaldaea, and Klio. In this invited talk, I will discuss previous spacecraft observations of Ryugu and Bennu, laboratory analyses of the samples returned from these asteroids, and recent JWST observations of low-inclination and low-albedo members of asteroid families in the IMB. These observations and laboratory analyses will enable us to constrain the potential sources and origins of carbonaceous NEAs.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6
doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-413621
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