Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA): an Apollo Participating Scientist Program to Prepare the Lunar Sample Community for Artemis.

As a first step in preparing for the return of samples from the Moon by the Artemis Program, NASA initiated the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis Program (ANGSA). ANGSA was designed to function as a low-cost sample return mission and involved the curation and analysis of samples previously returned by the Apollo 17 mission that remained unopened or stored under unique conditions for 50 years. These samples include the lower portion of a double drive tube previously sealed on the lunar surface, the upper portion of that drive tube that had remained unopened, and a variety of Apollo 17 samples that had remained stored at -27 °C for approximately 50 years. ANGSA constitutes the first preliminary examination phase of a lunar "sample return mission" in over 50 years. It also mimics that same phase of an Artemis surface exploration mission, its design included placing samples within the context of local and regional geology through new orbital observations collected since Apollo and additional new "boots-on-the-ground" observations, data synthesis, and interpretations provided by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt. ANGSA used new curation techniques to prepare, document, and allocate these new lunar samples, developed new tools to open and extract gases from their containers, and applied new analytical instrumentation previously unavailable during the Apollo Program to reveal new information about these samples. Most of the 90 scientists, engineers, and curators involved in this mission were not alive during the Apollo Program, and it had been 30 years since the last Apollo core sample was processed in the Apollo curation facility at NASA JSC. There are many firsts associated with ANGSA that have direct relevance to Artemis. ANGSA is the first to open a core sample previously sealed on the surface of the Moon, the first to extract and analyze lunar gases collected in situ, the first to examine a core that penetrated a lunar landslide deposit, and the first to process pristine Apollo samples in a glovebox at -20 °C. All the ANGSA activities have helped to prepare the Artemis generation for what is to come. The timing of this program, the composition of the team, and the preservation of unopened Apollo samples facilitated this generational handoff from Apollo to Artemis that sets up Artemis and the lunar sample science community for additional successes.

Pitted terrain on Vesta and implications for the presence of volatiles.

We investigated the origin of unusual pitted terrain on asteroid Vesta, revealed in images from the Dawn spacecraft. Pitted terrain is characterized by irregular rimless depressions found in and around several impact craters, with a distinct morphology not observed on other airless bodies. Similar terrain is associated with numerous martian craters, where pits are thought to form through degassing of volatile-bearing material heated by the impact. Pitted terrain on Vesta may have formed in a similar manner, which indicates that portions of the surface contain a relatively large volatile component. Exogenic materials, such as water-rich carbonaceous chondrites, may be the source of volatiles, suggesting that impactor materials are preserved locally in relatively high abundance on Vesta and that impactor composition has played an important role in shaping the asteroid's geology.

Character and spatial distribution of OH/H2O on the surface of the Moon seen by M3 on Chandrayaan-1.

The search for water on the surface of the anhydrous Moon had remained an unfulfilled quest for 40 years. However, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on Chandrayaan-1 has recently detected absorption features near 2.8 to 3.0 micrometers on the surface of the Moon. For silicate bodies, such features are typically attributed to hydroxyl- and/or water-bearing materials. On the Moon, the feature is seen as a widely distributed absorption that appears strongest at cooler high latitudes and at several fresh feldspathic craters. The general lack of correlation of this feature in sunlit M3 data with neutron spectrometer hydrogen abundance data suggests that the formation and retention of hydroxyl and water are ongoing surficial processes. Hydroxyl/water production processes may feed polar cold traps and make the lunar regolith a candidate source of volatiles for human exploration.

The association between vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and bone mineral density at the spine, hip and whole-body in premenopausal women.

The genetic influence on bone mineral density (BMD) is thought to be mediated in part by alleles at the vitamin D receptor (VDR) locus. In order to assess the effect of VDR on BMD in premenopausal women, we studied 470 healthy white subjects, aged 44-50 years, participating in the Women's Healthy Lifestyle Project. Each participant was genotyped for the BsmI polymorphism at the VDR gene locus. BMD at the lumbar spine, hip and whole-body, and the whole-body soft tissue composition, were measured cross-sectionally using a Hologic QDR 2000 densitometer. The presence of a polymorphic restriction site at the VDR gene locus was specified as b, whereas absence of this site was B. The frequency distribution of the VDR genotype was: bb, 20.6%; Bb, 39.1%; and BB, 40.2%. Spinal BMD (mean +/- SD) was significantly lower in women with VDR genotype BB (1.038 +/- 0.11 g/cm2) as compared with those with genotype bb (1.069 +/- 0.12 g/cm2, p < 0.05). Trochanter BMD was 2.7% lower in those with genotype BB versus bb (0.685 +/- 0.10 g/cm2 vs 0.708 +/- 0.09 g/cm2). A similar trend was shown at each subregion of the hip, but not at the whole-body. In premenopausal women, allelic status at the VDR locus contributed to variations in spinal and trochanteric BMDs, but the absolute difference in BMDs was small, amounting to 0.26 and 0.23 standard deviations, respectively. It is concluded that in this population of healthy premenopausal women there was a significant association between polymorphisms at the VDR gene locus and both spinal and trochanteric BMDs, yet no association was demonstrated for the whole-body BMD.