Prof Ian Franchi

PSSRI Rolling Grant. A very wide range of projects that span sample analysis and the early solar system, to conditions on Mars, observational astronomy of asteroids, to instrumentation and engineering for future missions.

DTG 2014

The CEI will perform and provide pre- and post-irradiation characterisation and test results from a Teledyne e2v CIS device. The test results will support ESA’s ARRAKHIS project Mission Definition Review and CMOS and CCD trade off. The main objective of the activity is to establish whether CIS (CIS300) can be considered as a valid ARRAKHIS detector option, in advance of the first ITT release in Q1 2024.

STFC Planetary Science Consolidated grant - details to be entered here.

Nanosims Laboratory Services - Laboratory Income for Services

STFC Open 2018 DTP

The overall objective of EURO-CARES is to create a roadmap for the implementation of a European Extra-terrestrial Sample Curation Facility (ESCF). . During the course of this 36 month project we will: [1] Review the current state of the art in extraterrestrial sample curation, by examining work done in Europe and internationally and to write a technical report on this topic; [2] Devise a plan for terrestrial planetary protection that is realistic, effective and legally compliant, while minimising risk to current and future scientific study; [3] Review current knowledge and essential requirements for facilities, including building infrastructure and design, procedures and protocols, security, environmental conditions, documentation and databasing; [4] Review most the suitable instrumentation for sample analysis, establish the optimum methods and instrumentation and identify those areas in which innovation and development will be required to enhance curation and analysis capabilities.. [5] Make recommendations regarding the use of analogue samples as proxies for returned extraterrestrial materials. We will deliver guidelines and lists and recommendations ready to be used in the event of a sample return mission. The analogue proxies are necessary in a curatorial facility for testing sample handling, storage and preparation techniques. This includes the testing of planetary protection measures as well as for validating new analytical methods. [6] Review suitable portable receiving facilities and outline the needs for innovation in order to be able to handle samples most effectively.

The solar system formed from a disk of dust and gas, and this can be analysed using meteorites that date from this time. The student will undertake a detailed study of materials that date from this time and place - specifically the enstatite meteorites, which may have originated in the innermost part of the disk. Chondritic meteorites are relicts from the early solar system composed largely of sub-spherical μm-to-mm sized objects called chondrules. Enstatite chondrites are isotopic twins to the Earth-Moon system, suggesting a genetic connection. In addition, recent orbital data from the MESSENGER mission to Mercury have shown that it has chemical similarities to the enstatite chondrites, for example high sulphur abundances and Mg/Si ratios. This rare meteorite group (only around 500 enstatite meteorites are known) are therefore highly likely to be products of the inner solar system; if not direct ancestors then possible 'aunts' to the terrestrial planets. The enstatite chondrites are remarkable for their extremely reduced mineralogy; sulphides and metal are very abundant and the main silicate is FeO-poor enstatite. Reduced C and N bearing minerals such as SiC, graphite and nierite (Si3N4) are relatively abundant. High temperature solids such as calcium aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs) are rare. The student will analyse the chemistry and isotope systematics of individual, pristine, chondrules, CAIs and isolated sulphide grains from the most primitive available enstatite chondrites. We will use petrographic techniques to locate possible precursor grains in the chondrules. By comparing these to later generated components we can assess how the inner protoplanetary disk composition evolves during its several million year lifetime. Age information will be acquired by measuring the initial abundance of 26Al/27Al in suitable phases (e.g. chondrule mesostasis) at the Open University to enable this compositional evolution to be monitored quantitatively. We will analyse the composition of trace elements in the major phases in enstatite chondrites using ICP-MS and Synchrotron x-ray microscopy as a tool to track the evolution of chondrules and their interaction with the surrounding gas.

Our proposed research programme addresses the origin and evolution of the Solar System, including surfaces, atmospheres and physical, geological, chemical and biological processes on the terrestrial planets, the Moon, asteroids, comets, icy satellites and extraterrestrial materials, in a range of projects which address the STFC Science Roadmap challenge B: “How do stars and planetary systems develop and is life unique to our planet?” The inner rocky bodies of the Solar System are of particular importance in understanding planetary system evolution, because of their common origin but subsequent divergent histories. Lunar samples will be used to determine the abundance and composition of volatile elements on the Moon, their source(s) in the lunar interior, and processes influencing their evolution over lunar geological history. Oxygen isotope analysis will be used to determine the conditions and processes that shape the formation of materials during the earliest stages of Solar System formation. Mars is the focus of international Solar System exploration programmes, with the ultimate aim of Mars Sample Return. We will: investigate the martian water cycle on global and local scales through a synthesis of atmospheric modeling, space mission data and surface geology; assess potential changes in the composition of Mars’ atmosphere over time through measurement of tracers trapped in martian meteorites of different ages; and determine whether carbon dioxide, rather than water flow, is able to account for recently active surface features on Mars. Mercury is an end-member in the planet-formation spectrum and we plan to exploit NASA MESSENGER data to study its origin and crustal evolution, and prepare for ESA’s BepiColombo mission. The cold outer regions of the Solar System, and particularly comets, are believed to have retained some of the most pristine primitive material from their formation. We plan to probe the composition and origins of cometary material and understand the processes that drive cometary activity through: laboratory analysis of the most primitive Interplanetary Dust Particles; and direct measurements of a comet by our instruments on the Rosetta mission, together with laboratory simulations. We will conduct laboratory ultraviolet observations of irradiated ices to provide new insights into the composition of Solar System ices and how they may create atmospheres around their parent bodies. We will also investigate the role volatiles can play in the cohesion (“making”) of Solar System minor bodies, and the fragmentation that can be achieved by thermal cycling (a candidate process that “breaks” them). The question of whether Earth is a unique location for life in the Solar System remains one of the most enduring questions of our time. We plan to investigate how the geochemistry of potentially habitable environments on Mars, Europa and Enceladus would change over geological timescales if life was present, producing distinguishable biomarkers that could be used as evidence of life in the Solar System. We will study the role of hypervelocity impacts in: the processing of compounds of critical interest to habitability (water, sulfur-species, organic species) during crater formation; and the hydrothermal system of the 100 km diameter Manicouagan impact structure in Canada to assess the astrobiological implications of hydrothermal systems for early Mars. In addition to satisfying humanity’s innate desire to explore and understand the Universe around us, our research has more tangible benefits. We use the analytical techniques involved from development of space and laboratory instrumentation for applications with companies in fields as diverse as medicine, security, tourism and cosmetics. One of the most important benefits of our research is that it helps to train and inspire students - the next generation of scientists and engineers – through training within the University and public outreach and schools programmes.

The Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure (EPN2020-RI) will address key scientific and technological challenges facing modern planetary science by providing open access to state-of-the-art research data, models and facilities across the European Research Area. Its Transnational Access activities will provide access to realistic analogue field sites for Mars, Europa and Titan, and world-leading laboratory facilities that simulate conditions found on planetary bodies. Its two Virtual Access activities will make available the diverse datasets and visualisation tools needed for comparing and understanding planetary environments in the Solar System and beyond. By providing the underpinning facilities that European planetary scientists need to conduct their research, EPN2020-RI will create cooperation and effective synergies between its different components: space exploration, ground-based observations, laboratory and field experiments, numerical modelling, and technology. EPN2020-RI builds on the foundations of the previous FP6 and FP7 Europlanet programmes that established the ‘Europlanet brand’ and organised structures that will be used in the Networking Activities of EPN2020-RI to coordinate the European planetary science community’s research. Furthermore, it will disseminate its results to a wide range of stakeholders including ERA industry, policy makers and, crucially,both the wider public and the next generation of researchers and opinion formers, now in education. As an Advanced Infrastructure we place particular emphasis on widening the participation of previously under-represented research communities and stakeholders. We aim to include new countries and Inclusiveness Member States, via workshops, team meetings, and personnel exchanges, to improve the scientific and innovation impact of the infrastructure. EPN2020-RI will therefore build a truly pan-European community that shares common goals, facilities, personnel, data and IP across national boundaries.

This is a grant amendment to Europlanet RI 93328 - all documents in this sharepoint folder

Nanosims service to Bristol NERC project

The aim of our programme in Astronomy & Planetary Science at the Open University (APSOU) is to carryout detailed investigations of the origin and evolution of galaxies, stars and planets with a special emphasis on our own Solar System through a combination of observation, simulation, laboratory analysis and theoretical modelling. Our research is divided into two broad areas, reflecting the historical research strengths. This research programme is well-matched to both nationally- and internationally-agreed research imperatives. In its final report, A Science Vision for European Astronomy2, Astronet’s Science Working Group identified four broad areas of strategic importance; our research covers major topics within each of these areas. APSOU projects also map onto two of the four Science Challenges that form STFC’s Road Map3 for science (‘How did the universe begin and how is it evolving?’ and ‘How do stars and planetary systems develop and is life unique to our planet?’). The present APSOU programme comprises 20 projects (labelled A to T), of which 6 are for consideration by the Astronomy Observation (AO) panel, 1 for Astronomy Theory (AT), and 13 for the Planetary Studies (PL) panel. The AO projects cover the breadth of the 7 themes recognised as UK strengths in the report of STFC’s Astronomy Advisory Panel (AAP), whilst the 13 PL projects are directed towards answering questions raised in two of the three themes identified as UK strengths in the roadmap of STFC’s Solar System Advisory Panel (SSAP)4.

STFC studentship awarded to NHM to study primitive meteorites. The NHM have already identified a suitable candidate (Epifanio Vaccaro), who has also visited/been interviewed at Open University and who has been judged of appropriate calibre to undertake a PhD. The student will be based at the NHM, with the principle supervision from Sara Russell. We have been approached as the degree awarding instituition, and for Ian Franchi (and possibly Natalie Starkey, funded 100% on HGSM A4102 Rolling Grant) to act as additional supervisors. All lab work will be undertaken at the NHM - no office space, computer, etc is required at the Open University, although the student will attend occassional training courses, etc. The money is awarded to NHM, who will manage the resources, including stipend, travel, RTSG. The fees (which include registration, bench fees, tuition fees, etc) will be split 50:50 between the NHM and OU, (costed assuming 3.5 years). Agreed with James Bruce.

MarcoPolo-R is a sample return mission to a primitive Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) selected as a candidate mission for the European Space Agency’s Cosmic Vision programme. It will rendezvous, scientifically characterize it at multiple scales, and return a unique sample to Earth unaltered by the atmospheric entry process or terrestrial weathering. Small bodies, as primitive leftover building blocks of the solar system formation process, offer clues to the chemical mixture from which the planets formed some 4.6 billion years ago. In addition, they retain material that predates the solar system and contains evidence for interstellar processes and its original formation in late-type stars. Current exobiological scenarios for the origin of life on Earth invoke an exogenous delivery of organic matter: primitive bodies could have brought these complex organic molecules capable of triggering the pre-biotic synthesis of biochemical compounds on the early Earth. Moreover, collisions of NEAs with the Earth pose a finite hazard to life. For all these reasons, the exploration of such objects is particularly interesting and urgent and it is no surprise that sample return missions are considered a priority by a number of the leading space agencies. This proposal is for funds to support UK participation in the MarcoPolo-R mission Assessment Phase, in particular to support OU staff in the development of the mission through their work in the ESA Science Study Team.

This is to provide shortfall in funding for nanosims time required in Glasgow Consolidated grant awarded 2013 for a 3 year pdra project. NanoSIMS time was to be requested thru UKCAN - unfortunately OU funding to provide UKCAN access to nanosims was not awarded in 2014 OU consolidated grant - and therefore no funding was present either at OU or Glasgow to allow nanosims measurements critical to the project. STFC have agreed to fund the 3 weeks (15 days) of outstanding work thru the standard URGENCY scheme. Funding valid until 31 March 2015.