Descripción del proyecto
Búsqueda de agua en meteoritos similares a los que formaron los primeros planetas
La vida, tal y como la conocemos, está indisolublemente ligada al agua. Discernir el origen del agua en los planetas telúricos tiene una gran relevancia para la comprensión fundamental de la formación planetaria, la búsqueda de vida en otros planetas y el estudio de planetas potencialmente habitables por los seres humanos. Los planetesimales son los componentes básicos de los planetas telúricos, y los cuerpos parentales de acondrita son unos de los primeros planetesimales formados en nuestro Sistema Solar. El estudio del contenido de trazas de agua e isótopos de hidrógeno en los meteoritos de acondrita es muy importante para dilucidar el origen del agua en los planetas telúricos de nuestro Sistema Solar. En el proyecto POSEIDON, financiado con fondos europeos, se emplearán técnicas de espectroscopia y espectrometría para analizar trazas de agua en materiales planetarios que aún no han sido estudiados.
Objetivo
The “Petrographic and vOlatile SignaturEs of prImitive and Differentiated achONdrites” proposal aims to determine the water content and its hydrogen isotopic composition in nominally anhydrous minerals (NAMs), from a range of achondrite meteorites, using a combination of three techniques, namely transmission infrared spectroscopy, reflectance spectroscopy and nano secondary ion mass spectrometry. The leading goal is to estimate bulk-parent body volatile abundances of achondrites, which were among the first planetesimals formed in the Solar System, to develop a robust understanding of the distribution and source(s) of water in the inner Solar System. This project also aims at developing reflectance spectroscopy as a possible tool for direct/indirect estimation of water content by cross-calibration of multi-techniques. Four tasks have been elaborated to perform this proposal: 1) petrographic characterization of achondrites, 2) transmission and reflectance spectroscopy of achondrites, 3) secondary ion mass spectrometry of achondrites, 4) dissemination of results. The proposed study will be the first comprehensive study of its kind, combining a new approach using multi-techniques methodology for measuring volatile abundances and isotopic composition in NAMs, exploiting recent improvements in analytical techniques, developing new protocols for reflectance spectroscopy, and studying a range of planetary materials never studied before. The results from our work would make timely key contributions towards the ongoing debate of ‘wet’ vs. ‘dry’ scenario for accretion of volatiles in the inner Solar System as well as implications for the timing of water accretion into planetesimals, which is essential for developing dynamical models of Solar System formation. As such, this study is vital to comprehend the early stages of our Solar System evolution but also to understand other planetary systems in terms of habitability, as water is a key component for the emergence of life.
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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
00136 Roma
Italia