This photograph shows the sawed face of ALH84001 which has been rotated 90° to the left from the orientation in the slabbing photo. There are actually two cut faces in this photograph. One is on the left side of the rock and represents the original successful cut which separated ,65 from ,0. The face to the right is actually further back in the sample and represents the distance traversed during the attempt to remove the slab. The vertical stripes on the sawed faces were created by friction from the bandsaw blade as it pushed through the rock. These stripes are much more prominent on the second face on the right, indicating the greater difficulty encountered in trying to make the cut. In an effort to minimize contamination, sawing of samples in the Antarctic Meteorite Laboratory at JSC is done in a nitrogen cabinet without any type of lubrication. |