Making a solar system: A recipe for worlds

The solar system we see today, comprised of a central star orbited by planets, formed 4.5 billion years ago from a cloud of dust and gas that collapsed under its own gravity. Our group uses meteorites as tools to probe the earliest stages of solar system formation and the evolution of planets.

We can learn about the early stages of the solar system's history by studying meteorites that originated in rocky asteroids. Some asteroids have remained rather dormant throughout their history, and preserve the very materials that were once swirling around the newly forming Sun. We propose to study the micron-sized dust contained within these objects to learn about the most pristine materials from our own solar system, and examine how these materials relate to other solar systems.

Other asteroids show evidence for having been changed by the action of water. Any ices originally present in these bodies have melted, allowing liquid water to react with the rocky materials and produce water-bearing minerals. By studying the minerals in these processed meteorites we aim to learn more about the abundance and distribution of water in the early solar system, and the role played by water-rich asteroids in the formation of planets.

A very rare group of meteorites, the enstatite chondrites, have chemical similarities to the Earth and other inner planets. We propose to study these to learn more about the precursors to our own planet.

The presence and action of water is not limited to the Earth, asteroids and comets. Missions to Mars have revealed its surface to be strewn with water-bearing minerals but have yet to return samples that we can study in the laboratory. We are fortunate to have a selection of meteorites that originated on Mars in our collection, and we plan to study these to learn about the action of water during its recent history.

An important process throughout the solar system is impact. Looking up to the Moon one can see how vital cratering was to its history, and the same holds for all the planets in the solar system. If the impact was into a volatile material this can be mobilised and potentially affect the climate and the composition of the atmosphere. We propose to study the effects of impact into volatile materials, which has implications for understanding the evolution of Mars.

We propose the following outreach activities:

1. The Natural History Museum (NHM) is planning a "Space Theme" over the period 2018-2019. Two major exhibits are planned, one on "Meteorites and the Solar System" and one on the "Moon". The NHM Planetary Materials Group will lead the scientific content of these exhibits. With over 5 million visitors per year, this is a major opportunity for UK planetary sciences to increase the visibility of our STFC-funded research.
2. The Space Theme will be supported by a website, digital media activities and talks to the public and schools.
3. We will participate in Science Festivals such as Science Uncovered, New Scientist Live, the Harwell Science Festival.
4. We will continue our collaborative project with the STFC Science in Society team by providing meteorite teaching specimens.
5. We will develop a Virtual Meteorite Collection trip, a project led by Monica Grady with support from STFC Public Engagement.
6. We will apply for our own STFC Public Engagement Award to fund a nationwide Schools Meteor Camera Network.
7. We will apply to participate in the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in 2018 on the topic of asteroidal sample return missions, and for 2020 on Mars missions.

In addition we will facilitate the following Knowledge Exchange Activities:

1. We will further develop our extra-terrestrial sample curation activities following the completion of our EC funded EURO-CARES project and ESA funded analogue collection project. Sample return missions involve knowledge exchange in a variety of fields including manufacturing, IT, telecommunications, engineering and academia. The aim is to foster expertise to enable the development of a European Extraterrestrial Return Sample Curation Facility in the UK.

2. We will continue to develop instrumentation to enable non-destructive analysis of small samples:
a. We will work to maximise the spatial resolution of energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), in collaboration with Bruker Nano.
b. We will improve the imaging capabilities of CT scans in collaboration with Zeiss.
c. We will continue to work will colleagues at Diamond Light Source in Harwell to develop state-of-the-art X-ray beam instrumentation.

3. We will combine data from the above techniques in order to further increase knowledge exchange between disciplines. The elemental and crystallographic information obtained by SEM (EDX, CL, EBSD) can be combined with computer tomography (CT) to compute 3D compositional information. Our results will help in understanding the limitations and possibilities of each technique. Our approach is unique in this respect and has potential applications in testing the accuracy of recently designed X-ray photon CT detectors. Our 3D composition data will be helpful for the development of new generation, chemistry-sensitive tomography detectors.