D/H and water sources in Tissint

No abstract available

Ratio Estimation in SIMS Analysis

The determination of an isotope ratio by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) traditionally involves averaging a number of ratios collected over the course of a measurement. We show that this method leads to an additive positive bias in the expectation value of the estimated ratio that is approximately equal to the true ratio divided by the counts of the denominator isotope of an individual ratio. This bias does not decrease as the number of ratios used in the average increases. By summing all counts in the numerator isotope, then dividing by the sum of counts in the denominator isotope, the estimated ratio is less biased: the bias is approximately equal to the ratio divided by the summed counts of the denominator isotope over the entire measurement. We propose a third ratio estimator (Beale's estimator) that can be used when the bias from the summed counts is unacceptably large for the hypothesis being tested. We derive expressions for the variance of these ratio estimators as well as the conditions under which they are normally distributed. Finally, we investigate a SIMS dataset showing the effects of ratio bias, and discuss proper ratio estimation for SIMS analysis

Effects of shock and Martian alteration on Tissint hydrogen isotope ratios and water content

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Effects of shock and Martian alteration on Tissint hydrogen isotope ratios and water content journaltitle: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2016.12.035 content_type: article copyright: © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article, available to all readers online, published under a creative commons licensing (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The attached file is the published version of the article

The Role of Radioactivities in Astrophysics

I present both a history of radioactivity in astrophysics and an introduction to the major applications of radioactive abundances to astronomy

MARCO POLO: near earth object sample return mission

MARCO POLO is a joint European--Japanese sample return mission to a Near-Earth Object. This Euro-Asian mission will go to a primitive Near-Earth Object (NEO), which we anticipate will contain primitive materials without any known meteorite analogue, scientifically characterize it at multiple scales, and bring samples back to Earth for detailed scientific investigation. Small bodies, as primitive leftover building blocks of the Solar System formation process, offer important clues to the chemical mixture from which the planets formed some 4.6 billion years ago. Current exobiological scenarios for the origin of Life invoke an exogenous delivery of organic matter to the early Earth: it has been proposed that primitive bodies could have brought these complex organic molecules capable of triggering the pre-biotic synthesis of biochemical compounds. Moreover, collisions of NEOs with the Earth pose a finite hazard to life. For all these reasons, the exploration of such objects is particularly interesting and urgent. The scientific objectives of MARCO POLO will therefore contribute to a better understanding of the origin and evolution of the Solar System, the Earth, and possibly Life itself. Moreover, MARCO POLO provides important information on the volatile-rich (e.g. water) nature of primitive NEOs, which may be particularly important for future space resource utilization as well as providing critical information for the security of Earth. MARCO POLO is a proposal offering several options, leading to great flexibility in the actual implementation. The baseline mission scenario is based on a launch with a Soyuz-type launcher and consists of a Mother Spacecraft (MSC) carrying a possible Lander named SIFNOS, small hoppers, sampling devices, a re-entry capsule and scientific payloads. The MSC leaves Earth orbit, cruises toward the target with ion engines, rendezvous with the target, conducts a global characterization of the target to select a sampling site, and delivers small hoppers (MINERVA type, JAXA) and SIFNOS. The latter, if added, will perform a soft landing, anchor to the target surface, and make various in situ measurements of surface/subsurface materials near the sampling site. Two surface samples will be collected by the MSC using ``touch and go'' manoeuvres. Two complementary sample collection devices will be used in this phase: one developed by ESA and another provided by JAXA, mounted on a retractable extension arm. After the completion of the sampling and ascent of the MSC, the arm will be retracted to transfer the sample containers into the MSC. The MSC will then make its journey back to Earth and release the re-entry capsule into the Earth's atmosphere

Assessment of residential environmental exposure to pesticides from agricultural fields in the Netherlands.

Conservation Biolog