Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: But is it the right probe?

Impact debris...hmmm.

An old cometary impact, assuming the comet was mostly volatiles, would not leave behind anything except the lunar dirt spectra after millions of years. A solid object impact would leave at least some ejecta behind that was characteristic of that solid object.

I'm no expert, but it seems that the spectra of ejecta would have a signature of lunar material only for a comet-type object, lunar material plus asteroid for an asteroid-type object.

That's assuming you can distinguish between lunar and asteroidal materials lying on the surface with a spectroscopic instrument. I don't know if that's true or not.

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