10029 - Ilmenite basalt
Collection:
Click the microscope button to view a thin section for this sample.
Microscope
Click the microscope button to view a thin section for this sample.
Microscope

Fact sheet

10029 - Ilmenite basalt

Sample 10029 is a small 5 gram sample of lunar basalt that appears to have rusted (cube is 1cm across). It crystallised 3.9 billion years ago and has been exposed at the surface of the Moon for 130 million years. This sample was the subject of some controversy since the 'rust' implies the presence of water on the Moon. However, later studies appear to show that the sample, which was returned in air, rusted only after it was returned in the moist atmosphere of Earth.

In thin section, the sample has an ophitic texture, a term that is used to describe the blocky grains of ilmenite (black in transmitted light), minor olivine, and plagioclase feldspar laths all enclosed in much coarser-grained pyroxene. The rusting is seen in thin section as brown 'staining' surrounding the iron-rich minerals troilite and metallic iron which are easily identified in reflected light. The "rust" has the composition of akaganeite - a hydrated ferric iron oxide.

Further details of this and other Apollo samples are here: http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/

About this collection

The Apollo 11 samples create an iconic collection since they were the first rocks collected by humankind that were returned to Earth from another solar system body. The Apollo 11 team collected and returned 22 kg of rock and soil samples.

Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on 16 July 1969. An estimated 530 million people watched Armstrong's televised image and heard his voice describe the event as he took "...one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" on 20 July 1969.

Sample details

Collection: Apollo 11
Type
igneous
Rock-forming mineral
feldspar
pyroxene
ilmenite
Accessory minerals
akaganeite
troilite
metallic iron
Category guide  
Category Guide
Title
Refers to any word or phrase that appears in the individual rock names. Names are generally descriptive; they allow users to search for broad terms like ‘granite’ as well as more specific names such as ‘breccia’. However, the adjacent descriptions of the specimens captures a wider range of general words and phrases and is a more powerful search tool.
Description
Refers to any word or phrase that appears anywhere in the descriptions of the specimens
Accessory minerals
Minerals that occur in very low abundance in a rock. They are usually not visible with the naked eye and contribute perhapssver, they often dominate the rare elements such as platinum group metals.
Rock-forming minerals
Minerals that make up the bulk of all rock samples and are also the ones used in rock classi?cation.
Timescale
Selecting one or more period, for example 'Jurassic'.
Theme
A term used to group together related samples that are not already gathered into a single Collection. For instance, there is a ‘SW England granites’ theme that includes such rock types as granite, hydrothermal breccia, skarn and vein samples.
Category
A general term used to label a rock sample. It is a useful way of grouping similar samples throughout a collection. Category names are often, but not exclusively, common rock names (e.g. granite, basalt, dolerite, gabbro, greisen, skarn, gneiss, amphibolite, limestone, sandstone).
Owner
The owner of the sample that appears in the collection. For example, NASA owns all the samples that appear in the Moon Rocks collection
We would like to thank the following for the use of this sample: