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Picture  of Simeon Barber

Dr Simeon Barber

Senior Research Fellow

School of Physical Sciences

simeon.barber@open.ac.uk

Biography

Professional biography

Space missions enable us to explore other worlds...
       ...and along the way we can learn to understand and sustain our own.

Moon@OU is a team of scientists and engineers studying our nearest neighbour in space.

In the lab we analyse meteorites and returned samples to unravel the Moon's history.
And we fly miniaturised lab instruments on space missions to study new samples in new places on the Moon.

With international partners we study the water cycle that is happening on the Moon today, driven by hot days and cold nights.
And near the lunar South pole we will identify and quantify water ice and other chemicals that may have accumulated over billions of years.

We call this exploration science. Studying the history and processing of water on the Moon helps us understand the role of this precious substance in our solar system. 
And if we can learn to carefully extract it in useful forms such as hydrogen and oxygen,
it could help humans live and work on the Moon and provide a stepping stone for new, affordable and sustainable missions to Mars.

We use the knoweldge and skills we learn in our space research to create benefits for society on Earth. 

Research interests

  • Exospheric Mass Spectrometer EMS / PITMS:  PITMS was a payload on Astrobotic Peregrine Mission-1, which aimed to be the first US-built lander on the Moon since Apollo 17. PITMS was designed to study how a lunar water cycle might be driven by the hot daytime and cold night-time temperatures of the Moon’s surface. And how over millions of years this may contribute to vast stores of water and other molecules at permanently cold polar regions – molecules that could tell us the history of our own planet and might support human exploration of the solar system. However, soon after launch on 8 January 2024, the spaceraft developed a fault in its propulsion system. PITMS was therefore redirected to study the gases in and around the spacecraft, and gained valuable data about the instrument performance and lander ennvironment before the mission ended 8 days later with controlled re-entry above the Pacific Ocean.  The instrument was led by Dr Barbara Cohen at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The OU, partnered by RAL Space and funded by ESA, developed the Exospheric Mass Spectrometer for PITMS and supported its scientific operations. The science and perofrmance demonstrated by the mission will feed into future flights of related payloads, including ProSPA and EMS-LUPEX (below).
  • PROSPECT / ProSPA:  The OU is leading the development of ProSPA, a miniature chemical laboratory for analysing samples for water and ice at the Moon. It is half of ESA's PROSPECT drilling and analysis package for a NASA CLPS mission which which aims to land near the south pole of the Moon. PROSPECT will carry out a detailed survey of how water and other molecules are distributed on and under the Moon’s surface. It will help us understand where these materials came from, and whether they might be harvested as useful resources. The OU is partnered in UK by RAL Space, Airbus Defence and Space, and Dynamic Imaging Analytics; in Germany we work with Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and Technical University of Munich. PROSPECT is led by Leonardo S.p.A. (Italy) under a programme of and funded by ESA.
  • Drill-eye:  a miniature camera mounted inside a drill that will allow scientists to see in real-time under the surface of the Moon or Mars. By picturing the inside of a bore-hole in real time, we capture valuable scientific information about sub-surface layering, ice content and partical size, that can be lost when a sample is excavated to the surface for anaysis.  
  • iDrill:  an intrumented drill concept for rapid chemical and physical analysis of the lunar sub-surface 
  • Rosetta:  our gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer "Ptolemy" made the first ever chemical composition measurements on the surface of a comet on 12 Nov 2014 on board the Philae comet lander [UK Space Agency/ESA]
  • Beagle 2 GAP (Gas Analysis Package):  our gas analysis instrument was delivered to Mars on 25 December 2003 by Beagle2 but regrettably the lander failed to fully deploy and operations did not proceed. But all was not in vain; what we learned is being put to use in ProSPA and EMS. 

Projects

ProSPA CD CCN14 CLPS Conversion - Phase C/D1

THIS AMS PROJECT IS A CONTRACT CHANGE NOTICE (CCN) TO AMS PROJECT(688076) ProSPA Phase C/D [E-00070]-01 F5304]. THIS CCN PROVIDES ADDITIONAL INCOME TO OU, TO COVER THE LONGER PROJECT TIMESCALE THAT HAS RESULTED FROM THE CHANGE OF THE SPACECRAFT PROVIDER FROM RUSSIA TO NASA BECAUSE OF EVENTS IN UKRAINE. NO ADDITIONAL OBLIGATIONS ARE PLACED ON OU AS A RESULT OF THIS CCN: 1) It recovers 100% of the additional OU staff costs required 2) It recovers 100% of the additional OU non-staff costs required 3) It recovers 100% of the additional External Partner costs.

Sterilisation limits for sample return planetary protection measures

An ESA ITT to investigate through modelling and lab tests the level of potential biological contamination of Phobos surface material from martian impactors, in the framework of planetary protection.

Publications

Book Chapter

Application of penetrators within the solar system (2010)

Ptolemy - a GCMS to measure the chemical and stable isotopic composition of a comet (2009)

Journal Article

The Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS): Results from a CLPS-delivered Mass Spectrometer (2025)

Quantitative evolved gas analysis: Winchcombe in comparison with other CM2 meteorites (2024)

PTFE as a viable sealing material for lightweight mass spectrometry ovens in dusty extraterrestrial environments (2024)

PROSPECT: A comprehensive sample acquisition and analysis package for lunar science and exploration (2024)

A primordial noble gas component discovered in the Ryugu asteroid and its implications (2024)

The Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS) Investigation Development and Preflight Planning (2024)

Lunar Resources (2023)

Hydrogen reduction of lunar samples in a static system for a water production demonstration on the Moon (2021)

A quantitative evolved gas analysis for extra-terrestrial samples (2020)

Searching for potential ice-rich mining sites on the Moon with the Lunar Volatiles Scout (2020)

Gas containment for in situ sample analysis on the Moon: Utility of sealing materials in the presence of dust (2020)

Feasibility studies for hydrogen reduction of ilmenite in a static system for use as an ISRU demonstration on the lunar surface (2020)

Hydrogen reduction of ilmenite: Towards an in situ resource utilization demonstration on the surface of the Moon (2020)

Thermal extraction of volatiles from the lunar regolith simulant NU-LHT-2M: preparations for in-situ analyses on the Moon (2019)

On the attempts to measure water (and other volatiles) directly at the surface of a comet (2017)

Implications of Sample Size for the Thermal Extraction of Volatiles from Lunar Regolith with the PROSPECT Instrument Package (2017)

Subsurface characterization of 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko's Abydos site (2016)

Ptolemy operations at the surface of a comet, from planning to reality (2016)

Low CO/CO2 ratios of comet 67P measured at the Abydos landing site by the Ptolemy mass spectrometer (2015)

CHO-bearing organic compounds at the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko revealed by Ptolemy (2015)

L-VRAP-a lunar volatile resources analysis package for lunar exploration (2012)

Ptolemy operations and results during the Lutetia flyby (2012)

Penetrators for in situ subsurface investigations of Europa (2011)

Off-plane x-ray grating spectrometer camera for IXO (2010)

Developments of the off-plane x-ray grating spectrometer for IXO (2010)

In situ radiometric dating on mars: investigation of the feasibility of K-Ar dating using flight-type mass and X-ray spectrometers (2009)

LunarEX: a proposal to cosmic vision (2009)

Kronos: exploring the depths of Saturn with probes and remote sensing through an international mission (2009)

Laboratory optimization of the Helium Carrier Gas Flow System of MODULUS Ptolemy (2009)

Presentation / Conference

The LUVMI Volatile Sampler and Volatile Analysis Package for in Situ ISRU Applications on the Moon and Other Airless Bodies (2021)

LUVMI-X: A Versatile Platform for Resource Prospecting on the Moon (2021)

Water production from lunar simulants and samples: an in situ resource utilization demonstration (2020)

Characterisation of the LUVMI Lunar Volatiles Scout Instrument (2020)

PITMS: an Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer for In-Situ Studies of the Lunar Water Cycle on the NASA Artemis CLPS Peregrine Lander (2020)

i-Drill: Surface and Sub-Surface Profiling of Lunar Volatiles and Resources by an Instrumented Drill (2020)

Quantitative Evolved Gas Analysis of Apollo Lunar Soils (2020)

The ESA PROSPECT Payload for Luna 27: Development Status (2020)

Sample Containment For In Situ Analysis on the Moon: Testing Sealing Materials in the Presence of Dust (2020)

An Evaluation of Lunar Simulant and Meteorite as a Proxy for Lunar Regolith for In Situ Resource Utilization Experiments (2020)

Experimentally Exploring Factors Affecting Water Ice Sublimation Rates to Inform Development of ESA’s PROSPECT Package (2020)

The Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS): A CLPS-Delivered Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer for In-Situ Studies of the Lunar Water Cycle (2020)

i-Drill: An Instrumented Drill for Surface and Sub-Surface Ground Truthing of Lunar Volatiles and Resources (2020)

LUVMI Rover to Characterise Volatile Content in Lunar Polar Regions (2019)

Mass Spectrometers for In-Situ Resource Utilisation (2019)

Volatile Characterisation Instrumentation for ISRU applications (2019)

Development of the PROSPECT Payload Package for Subsurface Sample Acquisition and Analysis of Lunar Volatiles (2019)

Experimental Development and Testing of the Reduction of Ilmenite for a Lunar ISRU Demonstration with ProSPA (2019)

In-Situ Studies of the Lunar Water Cycle by Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry (2019)

A quantitative evolved gas analysis for meteorite and lunar samples (2019)

Experimental Development and Testing of the Ilmenite Reduction Reaction for a Lunar ISRU Demonstration with ProSPA (2019)

Water Production from Lunar Samples and Simulants (2019)

Characterization of the Lunar Volatiles Scout for In-Situ Volatiles Extraction and Analysis (2019)

Characterisation of the LUVMI Volatile Extraction and Volatiles Analysis package (2019)

A Quantitative Evolved Gas Analysis for Lunar and Meteorite Materials (2019)

An Experimental Approach to Understanding Sublimation Water Ice Losses from Planetary Regolith Analogue Mixtures for ESA’s PROSPECT Package (2019)

Lunar Subsurface Exploration Technologies at the University of Glasgow: capabilities and the ‘i-Drill’ case study (2019)

Penetrators as a deployment tool for Mass Spectrometer instrumentation (2018)

Hydrogen Reduction of Ilmenite in a Static System for a Lunar ISRU Demonstration (2018)

Volatile Extraction and Detection from Frozen Lunar Regolith Simulants in Preparation for the LUVMI Rover (2018)

ProSPA: An instrument for lunar polar volatiles prospecting and in situ resource utilization proof of concept (2018)

ProSPA: Analysis of Lunar Polar Volatiles and ISRU Demonstration on the Moon (2018)

In-Situ Hydrogen Reduction of Lunar Polar Regolith: from Proof of Concept Experiments with ProSPA to Larger Scale ISRU Demonstrators (2018)

Demonstration of Volatiles Extraction from NU-LHT-2M with the ProSPA Instrument Breadboard (2018)

Penetrator-deployed mass spectrometers for volatiles analysis at the Moon (2018)

Mobile In-Situ Exploration of Lunar Volatiles with the LVS on LUVMI (2018)

L-DART: Direct Analysis Of Resource Traps within Lunar Permanently Shadowed Regions by a Penetrator Mission (2018)

L-DART: A Penetrator Mission for Lunar Permanently Shadowed Regions (2018)

LUVMI – Volatile Extraction and Measurements in Lunar Polar Regions (2017)

PROSPECTing for Lunar Polar Volatiles: the ProSPA Miniature In-situ Science Laboratory (2017)

Application Of The LVS Subsurface Probe On The LUVMI Rover For A LUNAR Volatiles Exploration Mission (2017)

ProSPA: the Science Laboratory for the Processing and Analysis of Lunar Polar Volatiles within PROSPECT (2017)

LUVMI: an innovative payload for the sampling of volatiles at the Lunar poles (2017)

Hydrogen reduction of ilmenite as an ISRU demonstration for ProSPA (2017)

ProSPA: The Chemical Laboratory for In-Situ Assessment of Lunar Volatile Resources within Esa’s Prospect Package (2016)

Prospect: Key Aspects of Drilling and Collecting Samples at Moon Southpole for Luna Resurs Mission (2016)

Characterization of the Subsurface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's Abydos Site (2015)

Rosetta: The Final Furlong (2015)

Evolution of the subsurface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s Abydos Site (2015)

ProsPA: A miniature chemical laboratory for in-situ assessment of lunar volatile resources (2015)

First measurements of the surface composition of 67P using the Ptolemy mass spectrometer (2015)

Accessing and assessing lunar resources with PROSPECT (2014)

Rosetta: evaluating the possibility of using Ptolemy for pre-landing scientific investigations (2014)

L-VRAP: a Lunar Volatile Resource Analysis Package for in-situ determination of lunar polar ices (2014)

Assessment of the performance and radiation damage effects under cryogenic temperatures of a P-channel CCD204s (2014)

The operational plans for Ptolemy during the Rosetta mission (2014)

In situ cometary cosmochemistry (2013)

Ptolemy: preparations for scientific investigations at the surface of a comet (2013)

Ptolemy: operations to date as part of the Rosetta mission and plans for the comet encounter (2012)

Rosetta - ESA's comet lander mission (2012)

A mole deployed mass spectrometer for in-situ sub-surface volatile characterisation (2012)

Ptolemy: operations at 21 Lutetia as part of the Rosetta mission and future implications (2012)

CAFE - a new on-line resource for planning scientific field investigations in planetary analogue environments (2012)

The Lunar Volatile Resources Analysis Package (2012)

Lunar volatiles and their characterisation by L-VRAP (the Lunar Volatile Resources Analysis Package) (2012)

Introducing a new on-line resource for planning scientific field investigations in planetary analogue environments: CAFE (2012)

Searching for lunar water: the Lunar Volatile Resources Analysis Package (2012)

Ptolemy: in situ mass spectrometry during the Rosettaflyby of 21 Lutetia, and implications for future missions (2011)

Compact CMOS camera demonstrator (C3D) for Ukube-1 (2011)

Ptolemy operations as part of the Rosetta mission during the targeted flyby of asteroid 21 Lutetia (2011)

The ESA Lunar Lander and the search for Lunar Volatiles (2011)

ESA lunar lander's search for volatiles (2011)

Asteroidal atmospheres: a new subject area (2011)

Ptolemy operations as part of the Rosetta mission up to and including the targeted flyby of asteroid 21 Lutetia (2010)

In situ analytical chemistry for the future exploration of Titan (2010)

Isotope measurements of a comet by the Ptolemy instrument on Rosetta (2010)

The application of simple mass spectrometers to planetary sub-surface sampling using penetrators (2010)

Ptolemy operations in anticipation of the flyby of asteroid 21 Lutetia (2010)

Lunar science below the surface - the MoonLITE Low Cost Penetrator Mission (2009)

A penetrator deployed biogeochemistry package for the Europan surface (2009)

Isotope measurements of a comet by the Ptolemy instrument on Rosetta (2009)

MoonLITE programmatic and technological update (2009)

An update on MoonLITE (2008)

MoonLITE – Technological feasibility of the penetrator concept (2008)

Miniaturised mass spectrometery for future space flight applications (2007)

Kinetic penetrators for exploration of solar system bodies (2007)

Ptolemy: An instrument aboard the Rosetta lander Philae, to unlock the secrets of the solar system (2006)

Integrated sampling and mass spectrometer systems for Venus probe and balloon missions (2006)

Beagle 2: Mission to Mars — current status (2004)

In-situ chemical and isotopic analysis of a comet by Ptolemy (2003)

Evita - a miniature mass spectrometer to identify and quantify volatiles evolved from mercury's regolith (2003)

Melting probes at Lake Vostok and Europa (2002)