Deciphering the Origin and Evolution of the Early Solar System by Isotopes
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Earth Atmospheric and Env Sciences
Abstract
The origin of our solar system has long been a focus of both human curiosity and scientific exploration. Interest has recently been heightened by the discovery of extrasolar planets, suggesting the exciting possibility of extrasolar siblings of the Earth and hence, perhaps, extraterrestrial life. Valuable information about the initial conditions from which habitable planets evolve can be obtained from our own solar system but several fundamental issues have to be tackled: To understand the circumstances of the birth of our solar system we need to find and examine samples that resemble the original material that was present during the formation of our solar system. To understand the processes that governed the evolution of the solar system we can compare various bodies and regions in the solar system, e.g., the comets in the cold outer solar system with the asteroids and the terrestrial planets in the inner solar system. We furthermore need to asses the transport and exchange mechanisms that have occurred between these regions. For instance, comets might have delivered most of the nitrogen to the Earth's atmosphere, but only a small fraction of the water. On the other hand, materials that were expected to have formed only in the hot inner regions of the early solar system have been detected in dust from comet Wild 2 that has been returned with the 'Stardust' mission. Also, it might well be that the composition of the comets in the outer solar system largely vary, and it is thus necessary to sample more comets to better understand this important source that may have delivered water and other volatile elements to Earth. However, sample return missions are expensive and thus limited. A unique alternative that I work on is the study of 'interplanetary dust particles' (IDPs) that are collected in the Earth's upper atmosphere. These dust grains are believed to originate mostly from comets. Here I propose to study noble gases, mainly krypton and xenon, in Stardust samples, IDPs and primitive meteorites from a large number of asteroids, to shed light on the above fundamental issues. Noble gases are uniquely suited to tackle these questions as they are rare on Earth, chemically inactive and hence do not lose their characteristic (isotopic and elemental) compositional signatures. This allows us to use noble gas signatures to trace materials back to their original reservoirs. Meteorites, e.g., show different signatures than the original nebula gas that is now in preserved the Sun. However, the detection of the heavy noble gases in cometary materials is extremely challenging. IDPs are very small and therefore a cutting-edge high-sensitivity instrument is needed. Cometary Stardust has been closely intermingled with the collector material during sampling and a particularly selective detection technique is required to separate cometary noble gases from those originating from collector contamination. These techniques are now available at the University of Manchester and I plan to combine, for the first time, these two state-of-the-art techniques to study the noble gas contents of comet Wild 2 dust, IDPs and primitive meteorites. With these studies, we will better understand the original inventory of protosolar cloud materials that accreted to form the solar system bodies and that were stored ever since in comets and primitive meteorites. I will constrain the contribution of volatile materials from comets to the terrestrial planets and their atmospheres, will be able to compare materials from different comets sampling the Kuiper belt and will assess transport mechanisms and the degree of mixing that must have occurred throughout the whole early solar system. Finally I might also be able to set chronological constraints on these processes.
Organisations
- University of Manchester (Lead Research Organisation)
- Lund University (Collaboration)
- Max Planck Society (Collaboration)
- University of Orsay (Collaboration)
- Deutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY) (Collaboration)
- ETH Zurich (Collaboration, Fellow)
- Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS) (Collaboration)
- German Aerospace Centre (DLR) (Collaboration)
- University of Münster (Collaboration)
- Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
Henner Busemann (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Clay P
(2012)
Textural characterization, major and volatile element quantification and Ar-Ar systematics of spherulites in the Rocche Rosse obsidian flow, Lipari, Aeolian Islands: a temperature continuum growth model
in Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
Spring N. H.
(2012)
A COMPARATIVE NANOSIMS AND RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY STUDY OF 26 INTERPLANETARY DUST PARTICLES (IDPS).
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Clay P. L.
(2012)
NOBLE GAS CHRONOLOGY OF EH5 CHONDRITE ST. MARK'S - AN IN-VACUO ETCH EXPERIMENT.
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Davidson J.
(2012)
PRESOLAR GRAIN INVENTORY OF A FINE-GRAINED CHONDRULE RIM IN CO3.0 CHONDRITE ALHA 77307
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
DAVIDSON J
(2012)
A NanoSIMS and Raman spectroscopic comparison of interplanetary dust particles from comet Grigg-Skjellerup and non-Grigg Skjellerup collections
in Meteoritics & Planetary Science
Vollmer C.
(2012)
GENTLE ABERRATION-CORRECTED STEM ANALYSIS OF
15N- AND D-HOTSPOTS IN CHONDRITIC SAMPLES.
in METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE
Description | Consolidated Grant (CO-I, 16.67%, PI Lyon) |
Amount | £1,300,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/I005633/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2012 |
End | 03/2015 |
Description | Rolling Grant (CO-I, 16.67%, PI Lyon) |
Amount | £2,500,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/G003068/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2009 |
End | 03/2012 |
Description | STFC Training Grant PhD studentship |
Amount | £67,200 (GBP) |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2010 |
End | 09/2013 |
Description | Strategic Funding |
Amount | £3,635 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2012 |
End | 07/2012 |
Description | Strategic Funding |
Amount | £4,083 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2013 |
End | 07/2013 |
Description | NanoSIMS characterization of IDPs |
Organisation | Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS) |
Department | Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) |
Country | United States |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Initial sample preparation and characterisation of Interplanetary Dust Particles |
Collaborator Contribution | Characterization of Interplanetary Dust Particles by NanoSIMS Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry |
Impact | Research results presented at conferences to be published in peer-reviewed journals in framework of STFC studentship |
Description | NanoSIMS characterization of IDPs & Organic Matter |
Organisation | Max Planck Society |
Department | Max Planck Institute for Chemistry |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | sample acquisition, preparation and characterization |
Collaborator Contribution | Characterisation of interplanetary dust particles by NanoSIMS secondary ion mass spectrometry |
Impact | published papers as well as publications to be published in the framework of Phd studentship |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | Noble gas studies of extraterrestrial materials |
Organisation | ETH Zurich |
Department | Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | sample characterisation, preparation high-sensitivity Kr and Xe isotope analyses |
Collaborator Contribution | high-sensitivity He-Xe noble gas analyses |
Impact | verious publications successful bits for scientifically important meteorite samples |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Raman Spectroscopy of extraterrestrial materials |
Organisation | German Aerospace Centre (DLR) |
Department | DLR Institute Of Planetary Research |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Sample preparation and extraction |
Collaborator Contribution | Analyticial characterisation of organic matter and mineralogy |
Impact | various publications contribution to PhD student research |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Study on "Hayabusa" samples from asteroid Itokawa |
Organisation | Deutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY) |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | sample preparation, noble gas (Kr, Xe) analyses |
Collaborator Contribution | Raman and synchrotron FTIR spectroscopic analyses 3D Synchrotron-X-ray tomography Mineralogical & physical characterisation sample preparation, noble gas (He, Ne) analyses |
Impact | various publications allocation of samplefr from asteroid Itokawa returned with JAXA's Hayabusa mission preparation of 2nd proposal |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Study on "Hayabusa" samples from asteroid Itokawa |
Organisation | German Aerospace Centre (DLR) |
Department | DLR Institute Of Planetary Research |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | sample preparation, noble gas (Kr, Xe) analyses |
Collaborator Contribution | Raman and synchrotron FTIR spectroscopic analyses 3D Synchrotron-X-ray tomography Mineralogical & physical characterisation sample preparation, noble gas (He, Ne) analyses |
Impact | various publications allocation of samplefr from asteroid Itokawa returned with JAXA's Hayabusa mission preparation of 2nd proposal |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Study on "Hayabusa" samples from asteroid Itokawa |
Organisation | Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | sample preparation, noble gas (Kr, Xe) analyses |
Collaborator Contribution | Raman and synchrotron FTIR spectroscopic analyses 3D Synchrotron-X-ray tomography Mineralogical & physical characterisation sample preparation, noble gas (He, Ne) analyses |
Impact | various publications allocation of samplefr from asteroid Itokawa returned with JAXA's Hayabusa mission preparation of 2nd proposal |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Study on "Hayabusa" samples from asteroid Itokawa |
Organisation | Lund University |
Department | Department of Geology |
Country | Sweden |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | sample preparation, noble gas (Kr, Xe) analyses |
Collaborator Contribution | Raman and synchrotron FTIR spectroscopic analyses 3D Synchrotron-X-ray tomography Mineralogical & physical characterisation sample preparation, noble gas (He, Ne) analyses |
Impact | various publications allocation of samplefr from asteroid Itokawa returned with JAXA's Hayabusa mission preparation of 2nd proposal |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Study on "Hayabusa" samples from asteroid Itokawa |
Organisation | University of Münster |
Department | Institute of Planetology |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | sample preparation, noble gas (Kr, Xe) analyses |
Collaborator Contribution | Raman and synchrotron FTIR spectroscopic analyses 3D Synchrotron-X-ray tomography Mineralogical & physical characterisation sample preparation, noble gas (He, Ne) analyses |
Impact | various publications allocation of samplefr from asteroid Itokawa returned with JAXA's Hayabusa mission preparation of 2nd proposal |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Synchrotron FTIR Characterization of IDPs & meteorites |
Organisation | Deutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY) |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Sample preparation and characterization of Interplanetary Dust Particles |
Collaborator Contribution | Characterization of Interplanetary Dust Particles by Synchrotron FTIR |
Impact | research results to be published at forthcoming meetings |
Start Year | 2010 |
Description | TEM study of interstellar organic matter in cometary dust |
Organisation | University of Münster |
Department | Institute of Mineralogy |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | sample selection and preparation identification of interstellar organic matter |
Collaborator Contribution | super high resolution TEM study of functionality |
Impact | various publications |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Volatiles in Antarctic micrometeorites |
Organisation | University of Orsay |
Department | Space Astrophysics Institute |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | detection of Kr and Xe by high-sensitivity mass spectrometry sample characterisation |
Collaborator Contribution | sample recovery, documentation, characterisation |
Impact | not yet completed |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | BBC Stargazing live Event at Tatton Park |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Participation at BBC Stargazing live Event at Tatton Park, presentation of our group's research on comets and meteorites to thousands of interested general audience unknown |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Manchester Science Festival "Meteorite Day" at Manchester Museum |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Participation at Manchester Science Festival "Meteorite Day" at Manchester Museum, presentation of our group's research on comets and meteorites to hundreds of interested general audience unknown |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Radio BBC five live Interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Interview on dust allocated to the Univ. of Manchesterf from Asteroid Itokawa, "Hayabusa" mission samples returned by Japanese Space Agency JAXA unkown |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Radio Interview BBC Manchester |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Interview on dust allocated to the Univ. of Manchesterf from Asteroid Itokawa, "Hayabusa" mission samples returned by Japanese Space Agency JAXA more invitations for interviews |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | School Visit Loreto School Manchester |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | as UK "STEM Ambassador" at Loreto School Manchester, interviews for year 9 pupils from various local schools (22/06/2012) unknown |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Univ. Press Release on Hayabusa Samples allocated to Manchester |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press release on the allocation of seven "Hayabusa" samples returned by JAXA from asteroid Itokawa to the University of Manchester several interview requests |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Univ. of Manchester Science Spectactular |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Participation at University of Manchester "Science Spectacular" presentation of our group's research on comets and meteorites to hundreds of interested general audience unkown |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |