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Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Laboratory Drop Towers for the Experimental Simulation of Dust-aggregate Collisions in the Early Solar System
Published on: June 5, 2014
Volatile-rich lunar soil: evidence of possible cometary impact
Abstract:
A subsurface Apollo 16 soil, 61221, is much richer in volatile compounds than soils from any other locations or sites as shown by thermal analysis-gas release measurements. A weight loss of 0.03 percent during the interval 175 degrees to 350 degrees C was associated with the release of water, carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen, and minor amounts of hydrocarbons and other species. These volatile components may have been brought to this site by a comet, which may have formed North Ray crater.
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