As a first step in preparing for the return of samples from the Moon by the Artemis Program, NASA initiated the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis Program (ANGSA). ANGSA was designed to function as a low-cost sample return mission and involved the curation and analysis of samples previously returned by the Apollo 17 mission that remained unopened or stored under unique conditions for 50 years. These samples include the lower portion of a double drive tube previously sealed on the lunar surface, the upper portion of that drive tube that had remained unopened, and a variety of Apollo 17 samples that had remained stored at −27 °C for approximately 50 years. ANGSA constitutes the first preliminary examination phase of a lunar “sample return mission” in over 50 years. It also mimics that same phase of an Artemis surface exploration mission, its design included placing samples within the context of local and regional geology through new orbital observations collected since Apollo and additional new “boots-on-the-ground” observations, data synthesis, and interpretations provided by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt. ANGSA used new curation techniques to prepare, document, and allocate these new lunar samples, developed new tools to open and extract gases from their containers, and applied new analytical instrumentation previously unavailable during the Apollo Program to reveal new information about these samples. Most of the 90 scientists, engineers, and curators involved in this mission were not alive during the Apollo Program, and it had been 30 years since the last Apollo core sample was processed in the Apollo curation facility at NASA JSC. There are many firsts associated with ANGSA that have direct relevance to Artemis. ANGSA is the first to open a core sample previously sealed on the surface of the Moon, the first to extract and analyze lunar gases collected in situ, the first to examine a core that penetrated a lunar landslide deposit, and the first to process pristine Apollo samples in a glovebox at −20 °C. All the ANGSA activities have helped to prepare the Artemis generation for what is to come. The timing of this program, the composition of the team, and the preservation of unopened Apollo samples facilitated this generational handoff from Apollo to Artemis that sets up Artemis and the lunar sample science community for additional successes.

Filamentary enstatite crystals, formed by gas-solid condensation in the solar nebula, are found in chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles of probable cometary origin. We measured the oxygen isotopic composition of four filamentary enstatite grains from the giant cluster interplanetary dust particle U2-20 GCP. These grains sample both the 16O-rich solar (∆17O ≈ −30 ‰) and 16O-poor planetary (∆17O ≈ 0 ‰) isotope reservoirs. Our measurements provide evidence for very early vaporization of dust-poor and dust-rich regions of the solar nebula, followed by condensation and outward transport of crystalline dust to the comet-forming region very far from the Sun. Similar processes are likely responsible for the crystalline silicates observed in the outer regions of protoplanetary disks elsewhere in the Galaxy.

Introduction: The origin, abundance, chemical state, and distribution of volatiles, including water and organic compounds, are a primary focus of lunar exploration. Water is of particular significance to exploration as a resource for astronauts, future robotic missions, and fuel to explore the Solar System [1]. The presence of water ice at the lunar poles is wellestablished but whether its origin is primordial and a product of lunar volcanism or due to (an) ongoing, perhaps steady-state, process(es) is uncertain [2-5]. Volatile-rich micrometeorite impacts that produce lunar agglutinates are a likely volatile source [6]. Bradley et al [7] established that solar wind produces water by insitu radiolysis of minerals. They discovered radiolytic water in solar wind amorphized rims on the surfaces of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), confirmed by laboratory H+ (and He+) irradiation of crystalline silicates. We focus on detection of volatiles in space weathered lunar, asteroidal and cometary surfaces. Here we discuss analyses and constraints on volatile detection in lunar regolith fines.

Amorphous silicates containing abundant nano-inclusions have been reported in the Paris CM chondrite (Leroux et al., 2015). They have chemical and morphological similarities to glass with embedded metal and sulfides (GEMS) found in interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) and micrometeorites believed to originate from comets. We used scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and nanodiffraction to study the chemistry and mineralogy of these inclusions in order to understand the origin of the GEMS-like material in Paris and its possible relationships to other materials found in primitive chondritic materials including IDP GEMS. EDS and diffraction analyses indicate compositional and mineralogical differences between the nanophase inclusions in cometary GEMS and Paris GEMS-like material. Metal inclusions are notably absent within Paris amorphous silicate. Ni-rich sulfides, including pentlandite, are common in even the least altered matrix material of Paris, while they are absent in GEMS-bearing IDPs and Ultracarbonaceous Antarctic Micrometeorites (UCAMMs). From examination of the inclusions, we cannot yet confirm or refute the possibility that GEMS-like material in Paris is related to cometary GEMS. The distinct compositions and mineralogy of the Paris material may be due to aqueous alteration of cometary GEMS precursors, but they may also denote an independent origin for meteoritic GEMS-like assemblages.

K. K. Ohtaki , H. A. Ishii, J. P. Bradley, J. J. G. Davis, Jim Ciston, Karen Bustillo, Richard Walroth, Roberto Colina Ruiz, Thomas Kroll and Dimosthenis Sokaras,Hawaiʻi Institute for Geophysics and Planetology and Advanced Electron Microscopy Center, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (kohtaki@hawaii.edu), Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA, National Center for Electron Microscopy, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720,USA, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.

K. L. Villalon, J. P. Bradley, H. A. Ishii, K. K. Ohtaki, A. M. Davis, and T. Stephan. Department of the Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA, Chicago Center for Cosmochemistry, Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics & Planetology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA. Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. E-mail: kvillalon@uchicago.edu

M. Kaluna , G. J. Taylor and M. S. Nii, Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 1680 East West Road, POST 602, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (hope.ishii@hawaii.edu), Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, 200 W. Kawili St., Hilo, HI 96720, USA, Hawai‘i Space Grant Consortium, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 1680 East West Road, POST 501, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.

We have recently begun a major collaborative project to determine the relative abundances of meteorite types over geologic time using remnant extraterrestrial chrome-spinels. These grains resist weathering and are preserved in terrestrial limestone [1]. The assignment of chrome-spinels to meteorite types requires multiple tools and techniques. The combination of chemical composition, oxygen isotopes, and the mineralogy and chemical composition of inclusions within the chrome-spinel define the host meteorite type. This work concentrates on samples from the Jurassic (~160 Myr ago).