Our laboratory experiments have used a light gas gun to accelerate olivine mineral grains to 5.1 km/s prior to their impact upon, and capture within, aerogel (density 96 kg m(-3)). The composition and mineralogy of the trapped particles were investigated using the non-destructive techniques of raman spectroscopy and analytical scanning electron microscopy. The raman spectra obtained for an impacted olivine show wider peak width than those obtained from the analysis of a pristine grain, this may indicate that the particles do undergo a degree of alteration at the crystallographic scale during the impact event.