Moon Meteorite Dar al Gani 400

Utilizing Mössbauer and Raman Spectroscopy for Extraterrestrial Research

authored by

René Groß, Christoph Wetzel, Lei Zheng, Christoph Kahra, Justus Pawlak, Kevin Tran, Maximilian Seydi Kilic, Harald Gaber, Bernhard Roth, Franz Renz

Abstract

Spaceagenciesworldwideareseekingpromisinganalyticaltoolsor
novel combinations of established techniques to broaden our understanding of
extraterrestrial processes. The constraints for extraterrestrial missions are quite
highintermsofvolume,mass,powerconsumption,radiationresistanceanddata
transmissionoftheinstrumentsused.Inthiswork,theDaralGani400meteorite
(DAG 400), which was found in 1998 in the respective meteorite field in the
Libyan Sahara, is utilized as a model for extraterrestrial research employing
MössbauerandRamanspectroscopy.Inaddition,opticalandX-raymicroscopic
(XRM)investigationswerecarriedout,whichprovidedimagesofthesurfaceand
interior of the meteorite, respectively, and further supported the results.For
Mössbauer spectroscopy, the miniaturized Mössbauer spectrometer MIMOS II,
which has already gained recognition in extraterrestrial research on Mars, was
employedforphasedetermination.Thisfindingservesasacrucialdemonstration
thattheminiaturizedMössbauerspectrometerMIMOSIIiswell-suitedforfuturespacemissionsandtheanalysisofextraterrestrial
materials.Notably, this study represents a novel application of Mössbauer spectroscopy in the analysis of DAG 400. The present
studydemonstratesthefeasibilityofphaseassignmentthroughtheanalysisofDAG400,anditunderscoresthepotentialforfurther
insightsthroughthedeterminationofoxidationstatesandmineralogicalcomposition.Ourworkalsounderscoresthepivotalroleof
multimodalandcomplementaryanalyticalmethodologiesinthisdomain.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Inorganic Chemistry
Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT)
PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation Across Disciplines
Institute of Materials Science

External Organisation(s)

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Type

Article

Journal

ACS Earth and Space Chemistry

Volume

9

Pages

1893–1904

No. of pages

12

Publication date

17.07.2025

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geochemistry and Petrology, Atmospheric Science, Space and Planetary Science

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.5c00117 (Access: Open)