Planetary Science at The University of Manchester

We seek to understand how our Solar System's diverse environments formed and evolved through time, and how they operate today. We study samples that arrived at the Earth's surface from space (meteorites) or were brought back by space missions (such as Apollo samples from the Moon, Hayabusa samples from asteroid Itokawa). We determine the chemistry of these rock samples, and the minerals they contain, to interpret the conditions in which they formed and the physical processes that acted upon them through 4.6 billion years of Solar System history.
The compositions of the planets, including the Earth, were set as they formed in a disk of dust and gas that circled the growing Sun 4.56 billion years ago. Particles called chondrules in the most ancient meteorites (chondrites) preserve a record of the chemistry of the dusty disk that we can use to understand the first stages of planet growth. By making analogues of chondrules in the lab and comparing them to meteorite samples, we can test the way that elements essential for life were mixed into the ingredients that made the Earth and other rocky planets.
The first asteroids - planetesimals - were formed from chondrules, as well as a mixture of tiny mineral grains. Fast-decaying radioactivity heated these planetesimals soon after they formed, causing them to melt inside. We will conduct experiments to study how the compositions of melts change during the first stages of heating, when only a small part of the planetesimal melts. We will also analyse the minerals as well as the chemical composition and isotopes in meteorites from these melted planetesimals. This will enable us to track the history of heating and cooling, and so learn more about when melting took place. It will also show us how small asteroids evolved and how elements behaved during the formation of the planets. We will then better understand the starting compositions of planets within our own Solar System and around other stars.
The solar system is continuously irradiated by high-energy particles that originate elsewhere in our galaxy. By studying the effects of these particles on meteorite samples, we will investigate how our solar system's galactic environment has changed over its lifetime.
The Moon has had a long and varied geological history. Lavas flowed from volcanoes on the Moon's surface after rocks in the interior of the Moon melted. We will study some of the more unusual types of rocks from the Moon that tell us about how the molten material changed in composition as it rose towards the surface. Through careful studies of the minerals that make up lunar rocks, and by measuring their ages, we will be able to piece together the Moon's volcanic past, and understand the role of internal or externally driven partial melting.
The only samples from Mars that we can study in the laboratory are martian meteorites. Martian meteorites include some that represent lavas which originated deep inside Mars, and others that are pieces of the broken-up surface of the planet. We will measure the chemistry of the halogen elements and noble gases in the interior of Mars through analysing martian meteorite samples. This will help us understand how volatile elements (elements that are easily turned into gas) and water were added to the rocky planets, which is important for understanding their sources and the timing of when they were added to the Earth.

Who might benefit from this research?
The beneficiaries of this research programme are the public, including school-age children and adults, through education and outreach; high-technology instrument manufacturing companies with whom we collaborate and share improvements; space exploration instrument development and mission planning; researchers in other scientific disciplines; and the public through technology transfer of specialist analytical capabilities to areas of societal benefit.

How might they benefit from this research?
Our goal is to excite and stimulate young people, along with their parents and grandparents, into an interest in science generally and planetary science in particular. Our Public Engagement programme emphasises the group's core science, which is rooted in the analysis and interpretation of extraterrestrial material, in the form of meteorites and samples returned from space missions. Research group members have designed and developed exhibitions, models and participatory activities involving impact cratering, how volcanoes and comets work, lunar samples, meteorite hand specimens, and thin sections viewed through the microscope. We particularly emphasise under-represented groups: participants meet female role models ranging from new postgraduate students to senior tenured academics who make up >50% of the outreach programme. Through our exhibits at major and local fairs, we engage with tens of thousands of participants annually. We have also developed a strong social media presence, through a blog, Instagram, and a monthly podcast in which we disseminate news and science outcomes of our research. We will continue to maintain and develop our public outreach, targeting to engage with at least 20 major public events over the next 3 years as well as engaging with many schools, particularly primary Schools, and science societies.
Our research programme is based around designing and developing innovative analytical instruments and analytical techniques that can tackle novel science questions that cannot be addressed elsewhere. We have a long history of innovation and spin-off in mass spectrometry, and have on-going and continuous development work on mass spectrometry components with Ionoptika Ltd, SAI Ltd, Cameca, Agilent, Teledyne CETAC Technologies, Thermo-Scientific Ltd, and Isotopix. Cooperation with these companies improves their products and capabilities and gives us a competitive edge in innovation and updates.
Proposers in this grant application contribute significantly to the science planning and data analysis of space missions. We will be contributing to international missions in the form of data analysis, and analysis of returned samples from asteroids and the Moon, in the next few years. We are team members of groups supporting science exploitation of remote sensing of other planets (e.g., ESA BepiColombo). We are also instrumental in bringing together UK space companies and international academic researchers to discuss future opportunities in lunar exploration. We will continue to take up opportunities to develop synergies between our research and mission science throughout the requested funding period.