Dr Manish Patel

This work relates to the ongoing development of a science instrument (UVIS) for the ExoMars TGO mission in 2016. The context is a research project, linked to existing STFC income for the science (RED SM-10-074-MP) and for some technical work (RED SM-11-028-MPatel). This new work is for continued technical activities, where the Belgian group leading the instrument consortium will provide us with a contract to supply specialist detectors for our instrument, which will involve conducting unique tests upon detectors in order to ensure they're suitable for use on the UVIS instrument. We are adding value by qualifying the detectors using our specialist research knowledge of radiation effects, and using highly customised test facilities to characterise the technology to produce new information.

This work is to conduct electronics development that is required for the UVIS instrument, as part of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission in 2016. The electronics to be developed is the controal and interface electronics that will enable the instrument to communicate and work with the central processing electronics.

Preparatory work for involvment in the future Laplace mission, to define a VIRS type instrument. Funding is required for equipment and travel to enable future participation and submission of grants.

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.

COMPET 8 - 2014: Science in context: sample curation facility and scientific exploitation of data from Mars missions

Continued post-launch support activities for the NOMAD and CaSSIS instruments on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission, providing operations and data processing for both insturments.

TBA

This project is to perform retrievals of martian aerosols and ozone from NOMAD instrument data on the ExoMars TGO mission.

Astrobiology is an emerging scientific field and is driven by the question ‘are we alone in the Universe?’ With an increasing number of life-detection/habitability missions, astrobiology is at the core of nations’ space strategies. The Open University Astrobiology Unit focuses on understanding how, and where, life might be found, by combining field work, laboratory simulations and mission data. Building on this expertise, Unit members are involved in key astrobiology-related missions and in developing planetary protection regulations. E3 funding will build capacity in line with future missions by furthering our understanding of extraterrestrial environments and potential life, through developing facilities to simulate these environments and investigating analogue sites. This is aimed at understanding if, and where, life may be found beyond the Earth. The Unit will develop its expertise to meet the new challenges that arise as the private sector and smaller nations develop exploration capacity. This includes supporting the sector to meet, and define, planetary protection requirements and to address space governance, for example, ensuring environmental sustainability of missions. The Unit will develop relevant education material for the expanding space sector, and it will work to ensure knowledge and expertise in astrobiology is used in a just and equitable manner. Sustainability of the Unit will be underpinned by commercial services, external funding, and University investment. The Unit will support the growth of astrobiology networks of industry, higher educational institutes and policymakers, and early career researchers, to ensure that the UK is globally recognised and influential within the field.

Post-launch support for the NOMAD instrument on ExoMars TGO

A study to determine the socioeconomic benefits of space exploration for the European Space Agency.

A European Space Agency project to study the effects of hypervelocity dust impacts on instruments and hardware relating to the Comet Interceptor mission.

The Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI) provides free access to the world’s largest collection of planetary simulation and analysis facilities, data services and tools, a ground-based observational network and programme of community support activities. The project is funded through the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme and runs for four years from February 2020 until January 2024. The Europlanet 2024 RI consortium is led by the University of Kent, UK, and has 53 beneficiary institutions from 21 countries in Europe and around the world, with a further 44 affiliated partners. The project draws on the resources of the Europlanet Society to disseminate activities and outcomes and develop a more diverse community of users. Europlanet 2024 RI provides: Transnational Access to 24 laboratories in Europe and five field sites. Virtual Access to services and tools. Networking activities to support the community and provide rapid response observations to support planetary missions.

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

In this proposal, we seek to understand the martian atmospheric chlorine cycle through global and mesoscale atmosphere modelling, linking new TGO observations to surface observations of perchlorate on Mars made by landers and rovers, to aid in interpretation of ExoMars 2022 Rover data. The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) and Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery (NOMAD) instrument teams on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission have recently announced the ground-breaking detection of HCl in the atmosphere of Mars [1]. We will study the atmospheric photochemistry of HCl and the links by which chlorine is exchanged between the atmosphere and the surface, including the formation of perchlorate salts. We are uniquely well-placed to conduct this study with our heritage at the Open University, as Co-PI and Co-Is on the two TGO spectrometers and with atmospheric modelling capability, having demonstrated a successful gas-phase photochemical chlorine scheme in our Mars global circulation model [2, 3].

SterLim: Sterilisation limits for sample return planetary protection measures

STFC Open 2018 DTP

Development of IR detectors for use in future Mars exploration imagin insturments.

The Open University is part of the instrument consortium developing the Soft X-ray Imager for the SMILE spacecraft. In this role, researchers at The Open University have informed the development of the bespoke detectors in order to optimise them for soft X-ray performance, performed initial development of facilities and equipment to characterise the devices and performed simulations of the environment that the SXI instrument will experience in order to inform the instrument design. This funding will allow this research to continue by: - evolving the radiation environment simulations as the instrument, spacecraft and mission design matures, particularly exploring observation strategies to minimise the damage to the CCD focal plane; - characterising and optimising the performance of the newly manufactured flight-like detectors, particularly following expected end-of-life radiation levels; - performing calibration activities on the flight detectors, using synchrotron X-ray and lab-based measurements; - developing and verifying the on-board algorithm for identification of soft X-ray events within the image data returned from the detectors.

The overall aim of this proposal is to identify volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can be used by NOMAD (Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery) as evidence of biological processes on Mars

Aurora Science AO proposal to combine TGO and InSight data, to search for trace gas atmospheric signatures of seismic activities on Mars. This proposal exploits the OU leadership role in the TGO mission (NOMAD) in collaboration with Oxford University's leadership role in the InSight mission (SEIS-SP).

This proposal aims to exploit data from the NOMAD instrument aboard the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter. This will be achieved through a combination of computer modelling (on both global and local scales) as well as the assimilation of NOMAD data into these models.

PFM electronics development and build for the NOMAD UVIS instrument on ExoMars

Local area modelling of atmospheric transport in support of human exploration of Mars

ExoMars TGO Science proposal

Continued post-launch support for operation of the NOMAD instrument on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission. Continuation of CaSSIS support

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

Operations tasks for the CaSSIS instrument on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, providing Co-I status on a spaceflight instrument.

Additional funding to support NOMAD PLS activities to 31/03/2018

Post-launch support for the NOMAD instrument on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission.

The Astrobiology Society of Britain (ASB, http://astrobiologysociety.org/) is a learned society for those interested in the relationship between life and its cosmic environment, with the remit to build capacity in the UK astrobiology community. Since the inception of the Society, a series of biennial conferences have been organised to achieve this aim. The next ASB conference will take place in 2017, and will coincide with the start of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission to Mars. We seek support to host the next ASB conference at The Open University, with the intention of using the TGO mission as a central theme, highlighting the leading role the UK plays in this mission in order to encourage and inspire new research and collaborations around astrobiology-related themes. TGO will enter the orbit of Mars in October 2016. One of the scientific objectives of the payload is to search for signs of past and present life on Mars, which is fundamental to the field of Astrobiology. The next ASB conference is planned to take place when TGO is nearing the start of its science operations (following a long period of aerobraking). The ASB conference will be an ideal environment for UK scientists involved in the mission to showcase their work and excite the next generation of scientists. It will also ensure that new novel data will be presented, which will have implications on our understanding of potential life on Mars. The conference is an opportunity to bring UK researchers together from a range of disparate discipline, and will allow students and post-doctoral researchers to hear about new ground breaking research in Astrobiology and develop their own networks. Astrobiology is a multidisciplinary research area that brings together diverse fields of science for example, microbiology and physics. This highlights how important the conference is for developing networks within the UK. ASB 7 will be held at The Open University in September 2017. Key themes for the conference will include the ExoMars TGO mission, future exploration of icy moons and life in extreme environments.

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.

Development of Mars global atmospheric and surface models and a software interface to make their output more easily accessible for mission planning and engineering tasks.