-
Source documents: 53 per-sample PDFs in inputs/, named
lunar-sample-compendium-NNNNN.pdf (full list in the tables below).
-
Original: Charles Meyer, Lunar Sample Compendium, NASA Astromaterials
Research and Exploration Science (ARES), Johnson Space Center, 2009–2011 (some
entries marked DRAFT). One dossier per Apollo 11 sample.
-
Available online: NASA Astromaterials (JSC) — Lunar Sample Compendium (per-sample dossiers; also mirrored at lsc.apolloinrealtime.org).
A set of 53 detailed dossiers, one per Apollo 11 sample, from NASA’s Lunar
Sample Compendium — the modern, reference-grade synthesis of everything learned
about each rock and soil over four decades of study. Where the 1969
Preliminary Science Report gave the
first-look classification and the
1977 Information Catalogue gave
the curation record, each Compendium entry compiles a sample’s petrography,
mineral modes, bulk and trace chemistry, radiometric and cosmic-ray-exposure ages,
magnetic/maturity data, subsample and processing history, and a guide to the
literature, with photographs. Together they turn the collection from a catalogue
into a worked geologic data set.
The 53 entries span the Apollo 11 number block (10002–10094) and fall into a few
natural families. The mare basalts
divide into two distinct
high-K and low-K suites; the
breccias are dominantly
shock-lithified regolith breccias; and the soils include the most-studied lunar
sample of all, 10084. Notable members: 10017 (973 g) is the largest rock
returned; 10002 (5629 g) the largest soil (with 10084 and 10086 as splits of
it); 10010 is the contingency sample; 10004/10005 are the two drive-tube
cores.
| Sample | Classification | Mass | pp |
|---|
| 10002 | Bulk Soil | 5629 g | 2 |
| 10084 | Bulk Soil (< 1 mm) | 3,830 g | 11 |
| 10086 | Bulk soil | 823 g | 2 |
| 10085 | Coarse-fines | 569 g | 6 |
| 10010 | Contingency Soil | 491 g | 3 |
| Sample | Classification | Mass | pp |
|---|
| 10005 | Drive Tube | 53.4 g | 5 |
| 10004 | Drive Tube | 44.8 g | 4 |
| Sample | Classification | Mass | pp |
|---|
| 10017 | Ilmenite Basalt (high K) | 973 g | 14 |
| 10057 | Ilmenite Basalt (high K) | 919 g | 11 |
| 10072 | Ilmenite Basalt (high K) | 447 g | 8 |
| 10049 | Ilmenite Basalt (high K) | 193 g | 7 |
| 10071 | Ilmenite Basalt (high K) | 189.5 g | 7 |
| 10069 | Ilmenite Basalt (high K) | 119.5 g | 6 |
| 10022 | Ilmenite Basalt (high K) | 95.6 g | 5 |
| 10024 | Ilmenite Basalt (high K) | 68.1 g | 5 |
| Sample | Classification | Mass | pp |
|---|
| 10020 | Ilmenite Basalt (low K) | 425 g | 9 |
| 10058 | Ilmenite Basalt (low K) | 282 g | 8 |
| 10044 | Ilmenite Basalt (low K) | 247.5 g | 10 |
| 10003 | Ilmenite Basalt (low K) | 213 g | 10 |
| 10045 | Ilmenite Basalt (low K) | 185 g | 7 |
| 10047 | Ilmenite Basalt (low K) | 138 g | 8 |
| 10050 | Ilmenite Basalt (low K) | 114.5 g | 7 |
| 10062 | Ilmenite Basalt (low K) | 78.5 g | 7 |
| 10092 | Ilmenite Basalt (low K) | 46 g | 3 |
| 10029 | Ilmenite Basalt (low K) | 5.5 g | 4 |
| Sample | Classification | Mass | pp |
|---|
| 10032 | Ilmenite Basalt | 3.1 g | 3 |
| 10031 | Vitrophyre Basalt | 2.7 g | 3 |
| Sample | Classification | Mass | pp |
|---|
| 10060 | Regolith Breccia | 722 g | 9 |
| 10046 | Regolith Breccia | 663 g | 9 |
| 10048 | Regolith Breccia | 579 g | 7 |
| 10065 | Regolith Breccia | 347 g | 6 |
| 10061 | Regolith Breccia | 346 g | 10 |
| 10019 | Regolith Breccia | 297 g | 7 |
| 10021 | Regolith Breccia | 255 g | 5 |
| 10068 | Regolith Breccia | 218 g | 5 |
| 10018 | Regolith Breccia | 213 g | 6 |
| 10059 | Regolith Breccia | 188 g | 7 |
| 10056 | Unusual Breccia | 186 g | 6 |
| 10063 | Regolith Breccia | 148 g | 3 |
| 10073 | Regolith Breccia | 124.5 g | 6 |
| 10009 | Regolith Breccia | 112 g | 3 |
| 10067 | Regolith Breccia | 69.3 g | 3 |
| 10023 | Regolith Breccia | 66 g | 5 |
| 10064 | Regolith Breccia | 65 g | 3 |
| 10070 | Regolith Breccia | 60.1 g | 3 |
| 10074 | Regolith Breccia | 55.5 g | 4 |
| 10075 | Regolith Breccia | 53 g | 3 |
| 10082 | Regolith Breccia | 50.5 g | 3 |
| 10094 | Regolith Breccia | 30.3 g | 4 |
| 10093 | Regolith Breccia | 25.8 g | 4 |
| 10091 | Breccia | 24 g | 2 |
| 10026 | Regolith Breccia | 9.3 g | 3 |
| 10025 | Breccia | 8.1 g | 3 |
- Two basalt suites. Apollo 11 mare basalts split into a high-K group
(e.g., 10017, 10057, 10072), younger at ~3.55–3.6 Gyr, and a low-K group
(e.g., 10003, 10020, 10044, 10062) at ~3.7–3.85 Gyr — distinct lavas, not one
fractionation series. (See Apollo 11 basalt suites.)
- Breccias are regolith breccias. Most non-basalt rocks are shock-lithified
soil — friable, agglutinate-rich, and full of solar-wind gases — rather than
deep-seated lithologies.
- The soils. 10084 is the canonical, well-characterized mature mare soil; 10002
the largest soil (10084/10086 are its splits); 10010 the contingency sample.
- Per-sample depth. Entry length tracks study intensity — 10017 (14 pp), 10084
(11 pp), and 10057 (11 pp) are among the most-analyzed; many small breccias get 3 pp.
- Subsample tracking. Entries record the parent/split genealogy (e.g., 10002 →
10084/10086; 10026 → 10027/10028), the basis of decades of traceable allocation.
- Provenance is coarse. Most samples have no recorded surface position; only
10022, 10023, and 10046 have a known in-situ orientation from pre-collection photos.
All were gathered within ~15 m of the LM — the disturbed-regolith zone visible around
the descent stage in the LROC image.