Lunar Meteorites
K. H. Joy, Juliane Groß, R. L. Korotev, R. A. Zeigler, F. M. McCubbin, J. F. Snape, Natalie M. Curran, J. F. Pernet‐Fisher, Tomoko Arai
Abstract
Lunar meteorites are fragments of consolidated rock that were ejected from the Moon when it was struck by an impacting asteroid or comet, entered an Earth-crossing orbit, and survived entry through the Earth’s atmosphere, landing on Earth as a meteorite. All lunar meteorites are collected as finds—to date none have been witnessed as a lunar meteorite fall event. They have been recovered from both hot- and cold-desert environments, where they have been preserved by relatively low levels of precipitation and terrestrial alteration. The key scientific importance of lunar meteorites is that they, in contrast to the Apollo and Luna samples,...