From Atoms to Planets
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Department Name: PSSRI (Planetary & Space Sciences RI)
Abstract
Our proposal, 'from atoms to planets', is a study of how the Solar System formed, how it has changed over billions of years, and how different processes eventually led to evolution of a planet capable of sustaining life. Approximately 4,600 million years ago, the Sun emerged from a collapsing molecular cloud. Through a series of complex processes (including accretion of dust, gas and ice in different relative quantities, depending on distance from the Sun, followed by coagulation, agglomeration, melting, separation into layers and solidification), the disk that circled the Sun gradually became the planets and their satellites, plus asteroids and comets. As the planets formed, they experienced alteration by melting ice and by heating, and then the effects of bombardment, collision, break-up, and re-formation. On one planet, Earth, water condensed and formed oceans, and life emerged. It is difficult to look back through all these processes to the original material from which the Solar System formed. We cannot study rocks from the Earth's surface, because they have been changed by geological and biological processing and are no longer representative of material that aggregated from the solar nebula. The timeline of events taking place during the early Solar System can only be determined by study of meteorites and dust collected in space and from comets. Our research programme is an integrated study of the physics, chemistry and biology of extraterrestrial materials. We investigate these materials in different ways: (1) by analysing meteorites, pieces of the Moon and Mars, and interplanetary and cometary dust in the laboratory, or (2) by making measurements using instruments on spacecraft of the surfaces of Solar System bodies such as the Moon and Mars, Titan (Saturn's giant moon), comets and asteroids. To complement the analytical and exploration aspects of our work, we perform laboratory simulations of the formation processes, and also develop computer models of how processes might have occurred. As well as using instruments to make measurements (either in the laboratory or on spacecraft), we also design and build equipment ourselves. We have been successful in launching instruments to Mars, to Titan and to a comet. Now we are designing equipment to send to the Moon and to Europa (Jupiter's icy satellite), in order to learn about the composition and structure of these very different bodies. We specialise in analysis of small amounts of material, often only a few grains that might only be a few microns in size. We use electron microscopes to take images of samples, and to learn their elemental composition, and what minerals are present. We also use different types of mass spectrometer to determine the isotopic and molecular composition of the material. We can get an amazing amount of information from the tiniest of grains / from which we can learn how our star and its planets formed. We know that there are many stars in the Galaxy orbited by planets, however, we still know only one place where life exists, and that is here on Earth. But our planet is not made from any particularly unusual materials, the star we orbit is quite ordinary, and for life forms such as ourselves, the relative proportions in our bodies of elements such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen (for instance) are similar to those in stars (implying that we are, chemically speaking, not particularly unusual). As astronomers use ever-more sophisticated telescopes in attempts to uncover the details of the planetary systems that are closest to us, the microscopes we use on Earth to analyse relevant physically available materials are probing ever deeper into the details of our own planetary system. Eventually, we hope that by studying extraterrestrial materials, we will be able to understand how life began on Earth, and whether it has evolved elsewhere in the Solar System.
Organisations
Publications
Tomkinson T.
(2010)
A COMBINED CARBON AND OXYGEN ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS OF ALH 84001 CARBONATES WITH NANOSIMS
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Tomkinson T.
(2009)
A COMBINED SYNTHESIS AND MODELLING APPROACH TO INVESTIGATE FORMATION OF CARBONATES ON MARS
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Herrera A
(2009)
A cryptoendolithic community in volcanic glass.
in Astrobiology
Kelly Laura
(2009)
A geobiological comparison of high- and low-Silica containing weathered volcanic glass
in GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA
Ball A
(2009)
A small mission for in situ exploration of a primitive binary near-Earth asteroid
in Advances in Space Research
Moggi-Cecchi V.
(2009)
ACFER 370: AN ANOMALOUS CHONDRITE RELATED TO THE CUMBERLAND FALLS BRECCIA
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Cockell C
(2009)
Advancing the case for microbial conservation
in Oryx
Mason J. P.
(2010)
Airborne Dust and Water Vapour at Visible Wavelengths in the Martian Atmosphere
in ORIGINS OF LIFE AND EVOLUTION OF BIOSPHERES
Filiberto J
(2013)
Alteration mineralogy of Home Plate and Columbia Hills-Formation conditions in context to impact, volcanism, and fluvial activity
in Meteoritics & Planetary Science
Cockell CS
(2009)
Alteration textures in terrestrial volcanic glass and the associated bacterial community.
in Geobiology
Martins Z.
(2007)
Amino acid composition, petrology, geochemistry,
14C terrestrial age and oxygen isotopes of the Shisr 033 CR chondrite
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Bland PA
(2009)
An anomalous basaltic meteorite from the innermost main belt.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Cockell Charles S.
(2008)
An essay on extraterrestrial liberty
in JBIS-JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH INTERPLANETARY SOCIETY
Weinstein S
(2008)
Application of pulsed-excitation fluorescence imager for daylight detection of sparse life in tests in the Atacama Desert
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
Needham A. W.
(2009)
AQUEOUS ALTERATION PROCESSES ON MARS
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Anand M.
(2006)
Ar-Ar age and halogen characteristics of nakhlite MIL 03346: Records of crustal processes on Mars
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Bhandari N.
(2008)
Ararki (L5) chondrite: The first meteorite find in Thar Desert of India
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Barrat J. A.
(2007)
Are Stannern-trend eucrites ordinary eucrites contaminated by crustal partial melts?
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Cockell C
(2010)
Astrobiology-What Can We Do on the Moon?
in Earth, Moon, and Planets
Grady Monica M.
(2009)
Astronomy by microscope
in ASTRONOMY & GEOPHYSICS
Cockell C
(2009)
Bacteria in Weathered Basaltic Glass, Iceland
in Geomicrobiology Journal
Herrera A
(2008)
Bacterial Colonization and Weathering of Terrestrial Obsidian in Iceland
in Geomicrobiology Journal
Kelly LC
(2010)
Bacterial diversity of weathered terrestrial Icelandic volcanic glasses.
in Microbial ecology
Lorenz C. A.
(2010)
BASALTIC SHERGOTTITE, JIDDAT AL HARASIS 479
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Bland P. A.
(2009)
BUNBURRA ROCKHOLE: A NEW ANOMALOUS ACHONDRITE
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Pearson V. K.
(2008)
Carbon and nitrogen cosmochemistry of the CO3 group
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Pearson V. K.
(2006)
Carbon and nitrogen in carbonaceous chondrites: Elemental abundances and stable isotopic compositions
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Busemann H.
(2009)
CARBON RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY OF 36 INTERPLANETARY DUST PARTICLES
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Burchell M. J.
(2008)
Characteristics of cometary dust tracks in Stardust aerogel and laboratory calibrations
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Sephton M
(2009)
Chemical constitution of a Permian-Triassic disaster species
in Geology
Morlok A.
(2010)
CHONDRULES BORN IN PLASMA: LABORATORY SIMULATIONS OF CIRCUMSTELLAR PROCESSES
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
MORLOK A
(2012)
Chondrules born in plasma? Simulation of gas-grain interaction using plasma arcs with applications to chondrule and cosmic spherule formation
in Meteoritics & Planetary Science
Rotundi A.
(2007)
Combined micro-IR and micro-Raman analyses of comet 81p/wild-2 particles collected by stardust
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Rotundi A.
(2008)
Combined micro-Raman, micro-infrared, and field emission scanning electron microscope analyses of comet 81P/Wild 2 particles collected by Stardust
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
PRICE M
(2010)
Comet 81P/Wild 2: The size distribution of finer (sub-10 µm) dust collected by the Stardust spacecraft
in Meteoritics & Planetary Science
Postberg F.
(2008)
Composition of Saturnian E-ring Particles. Probing subsurface Oceans of Enceladus?
in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ASTROBIOLOGY
Paton M
(2010)
Computer modelling of a penetrator thermal sensor
in Advances in Space Research
Grady M. M.
(2007)
Continuing investigation of the Nakhlite magma pile
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Yamaguchi A
(2009)
Crustal partial melting on Vesta: Evidence from highly metamorphosed eucrites
in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Yamaguchi A.
(2009)
CRUSTAL PARTIAL MELTING ON VESTA: EVIDENCE FROM STANNERN TREND AND RESIDUAL EUCRITES
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Cockell CS
(2009)
Cryptic photosynthesis--extrasolar planetary oxygen without a surface biological signature.
in Astrobiology
Talbot H
(2008)
Cyanobacterial bacteriohopanepolyol signatures from cultures and natural environmental settings
in Organic Geochemistry
Billi Daniela
(2011)
Damage Escape and Repair in Dried
Chroococcidiopsis spp. from Hot and Cold Deserts Exposed to Simulated Space and Martian Conditions
in ASTROBIOLOGY
Cockell CS
(2009)
Darwin--a mission to detect and search for life on extrasolar planets.
in Astrobiology
Cockell C
(2008)
Darwin-an experimental astronomy mission to search for extrasolar planets
in Experimental Astronomy
Page D
(2009)
Dating martian climate change
in Icarus
Gohn GS
(2008)
Deep drilling into the Chesapeake Bay impact structure.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Finster K
(2009)
Description of Tessaracoccus profundi sp.nov., a deep-subsurface actinobacterium isolated from a Chesapeake impact crater drill core (940 m depth)
in Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Morris A. A.
(2006)
Determing the effects of aqueous alteration on the distribution of oxygen isotopes in carbonaceous chondrites
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Description | This was a large Rolling Grant with many outcomes. |
Exploitation Route | Much of the research was published. |
Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Chemicals,Education,Other |
Description | Many papers have been published. |
First Year Of Impact | 2008 |
Description | Many schemes |
Amount | £1 (GBP) |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start |
Description | Outreach activities |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talks to societies/schools, and various media activities etc. The exercise satisfies a basic human desire to communicate. Professional scientists are concerned about the measures needed to ensure an adequate intake of students into the subject. Scientists also relish the opportunity to tell lay audiences how they use tax-payers' money. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010 |