Space weathering of near-Earth and main belt silicate-rich asteroids: Observations and ion irradiation experiments

In this paper we report the results of a comparison between ion irradiation experiments (N^+, Ar^+, Ar++) on silicates, a large spectral data set of silicate-rich (S-type) asteroids, and ordinary chondrite meteorites (OCs). Ion irradiation experiments - conducted on Fe-poor olivine, Fe-poor orthopyroxene, bulk silicate-rich rocks and one OC - have been monitored by means of reflectance spectroscopy (0.3-2.5 μm). All these experiments produce reddening and darkening of reflectance spectra. The observational data consist of a set of visible and near-infrared (0.4-2.4 μm) spectra of S-type asteroids, that belong to main belt (MBAs) and near-Earth (NEOs) populations. By analyzing the spectra of OCs, MBAs, and NEOs, we find a similar mineralogy between most asteroids and meteorites, but different distributions of spectral slopes. We interpret these findings in the frame of space weathering induced by solar wind ion irradiation.