HABITABILITY OF ICY WORLDS: ScIENCE AND INstrumentation
At very cold temperatures, only salty waters (i.e. brines) are stable as liquids. Therefore, it is important for us to be able to characterize the composition of salty waters in the solar system as their composition will tell us about the types of microorganisms that may be able to live there. It’s very difficult to analyze brines, therefore we are developing new analytical techniques to determine the major and trace element chemistry of these solutions. We expect that these data will allow future space missions to remotely sample brines throughout the solar system, like the plume of salty liquid erupting on Enceladus.
Measuring Perchlorate and Sulfate Concentrations in Brine
Measuring Carbonate and Perchlorate Concentrations in Brine
Measuring Clathrate stability in the solar system
My current project focuses on how amino acids, which are present in meteorites and potentially in the rocky cores of Ocean Worlds partition into ice during freezing. This is important for us to be able to detect and differentiate abiotic processes that occur naturally from biologically mediated processes that are indicators of life. Stay tuned for more updates.