Paleomagnetism requires that specific minerals in the sample retain their magnetic polarity after Earth's magnetic field flip - flops, as it does about every 300,000 years. (discovermagazine.com)
Identification of specific mineral phases may provide internal density standards, which would improve the quality of information on tomographic reconstruction. (lanl.gov)
Living up to all the ambitions of its official name, OSIRIS - REx would explore the origins of asteroids and thus the solar system itself, connect spectral colors observable from Earth to specific minerals on the asteroid, identify potential resources such as water for rocket fuel, help evaluate the threat of asteroids to Earth, and return some regolith (asteroid soil) for detailed analysis. (sciencemag.org)