In recent years, the extraterrestrial exploration mission is unprecedented. According to the space mission plans of various countries, scientists are expected to bring back different rock samples from the moon, Mars, Phobos and a primitive asteroid Bennu in the future. Scientists say that a new technology can determine the age of these rocks, meteorites and even cultural relics, which may help open a new era of discovery.
It is reported that a research team from the University of Chicago and the Field Museum of Natural History recently used laser to detect the age of a Martian meteorite called Black Beauty.
In this process, they used the instrument manufactured by Thermo Fisher Scientific to detect the "Black Beauty" meteorite with a small laser beam, so as to quickly and accurately determine its age. In just a few hours, they accurately measured the "age" of the meteorite - 2.2 billion years. In addition to taking much less time than in the past few weeks, they can obtain accurate and reliable results just by relying on a small location on the meteorite.
Nicolas Dauphas, a professor of geophysics at the University of Chicago Louis Block, pointed out that this achievement means that the same method can be used to determine the age of rocks brought back to the Earth in a series of space missions in the future. He said that the next decade would be an exciting decade for planetary exploration.
It is reported that this laser measurement technology has made significant progress compared with previous schemes, saving time and energy, and reducing the risk of destroying some samples. For more than a century, scientists have been using isotopes to estimate the age of specimens, but some types of elements used in this method are unstable; Rubidium dating can be used to determine the age of rocks and objects billions of years ago, but it takes several weeks and will destroy some samples.
In order to break through these bottlenecks, Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed a new machine that can significantly shorten the determination time, reduce toxicity and reduce the number of samples damaged. The machine achieved this breakthrough by using a laser to vaporize a small portion of the sample (the hole formed is only the size of a hair), and then using a mass spectrometer to accurately analyze and measure rubidium and strontium atoms.
Source: OFweek Laser Network
