Nature:
Just
weeks
after
Dawn left orbit around Vesta, papers are being
published based on data the spacecraft obtained. Two articles
by the
Dawn research team reveal evidence for the existence
of water on the asteroid. The first paper reveals
concentrations of hydrogen in the equatorial regions that
suggest the water content is as high as 400 parts per million.
The second paper identifies pits up to 200 m deep that could
have been caused by the venting of water vapor into space. The
researchers believe the water could have been stored in
hydrated minerals on smaller, water-rich asteroids that
impacted Vesta. Later impacts would have heated the minerals,
releasing the water vapor.
