Project Details
Description
WE PROPOSE NOVEL MEASUREMENTS AND PREDICTIVE MODELS OF ISOTOPES WITHIN ORGANIC MOLECULES FOUND IN METEORITES DEEP EARTH FLUIDS ORGANISMS AND ASSOCIATED WITH MINERALS ICE AND ANCIENT SEDIMENTS. STUDIES WILL INCLUDE MEASUREMENTS OF POSITION-SPECIFIC ISOTOPE ABUNDANCES WITHIN ORGANIC COMPOUNDS FROM NATURE AND GENERATED IN CAREFULLY CONTROLLED ABIOTIC AND BIOTIC EXPERIMENTS. WE WILL USE THERMODYNAMIC AND METABOLIC MODELS INFORMED BY OUR OBSERVATIONS TO LINK CHEMICAL PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES TO MOLECULAR ISOTOPE SIGNATURES. THE KNOWLEDGE AND TOOLS DEVELOPED FROM THESE STUDIES WILL OPEN AN EXCITING FRONTIER FOR UNDERSTANDING ABIOTIC AND BIOTIC SIGNATURES HELD WITHIN ORGANIC STRUCTURES. THIS PROPOSAL BRINGS TOGETHER AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM OF LEADING EXPERTS WITH DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF ISOTOPES AND CARBON COMPOUNDS ON EARTH AND BEYOND IN SPACE AND PLANETARY ENVIRONMENTS. OUR STRONGLY INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM SEEKS TO ANSWER THE KEY QUESTION: TO WHAT DEGREE DO ISOTOPES WITHIN MOLECULES EXPLICITLY REVEAL THE ORIGINS AND HISTORY OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS? THE PROPOSED RESEARCH SUPPORTS NUMEROUS NASA ASTROBIOLOGY SCIENCE STRATEGIES AND MULTIPLE CAN-7 RESEARCH CENTERS. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL BUILD SCIENTIFIC AND ANALYTICAL CAPACITY FOR ANTICIPATED SAMPLE RETURN MISSIONS AND FUTURE EXPLORATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
Status | Finished |
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Effective start/end date | 4/19/18 → 4/18/23 |
Funding
- NASA Headquarters
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