Asteroids could have begun as balls of mud, not rock, says geodynamics’ Steven Hauck

Slushy start mooted for space rocks

Nature: New findings show that space rocks, or asteroids, might have begun as balls of mud instead of rock. The work helps explain how a large volume of material could be altered all at once. “If you say the system was melting and convecting because it was mud, then it becomes a more tractable problem,” said Steven Hauck, associate professor of planetary geodynamics.