"If arqueobacteria are the first forms of life to look for on Mars, how do we propose to find and recognize them?"
-
Modeling grain surface reaction pathways for large organic molecules
Project Investigators: Jacqueline Keane, Xander Tielens
Summary
Interstellar ices show a varied composition with distinct water-rich and inert components consisting of a variety carbon-bearing species. Hydrogenation and oxidation reactions are equally important on the grain surface and drive most of the chemistry that occurs. Reactions involving carbon monoxide on the grain surface are known to be the dominant chemical pathways to many organic species like methanol and formaldehyde. Astronomical observations suggest that the larger organic species like ethanol and acetaldehyde are linked through successive hydrogenation of CO. However, the formation pathways (on the grain surface) of larger molecules like acetaldehyde and ethanol which form via formaldehyde and the efficiency of these pathways have not been determined. This aim of this project is model the pertinent grain surface reaction in order to assess the effectiveness of CO hydrogenation as the main pathway to more complex organic species.
Astrobiology Roadmap Objectives:
Project Progress
The project is in the initial stages of researching the various chemical pathways (for molecules such as acetaldehyde and ethanol) which we wish to model as well as the parameter space (i.e. activation barriers, temperature dependence, products) that must be explored. A number of sub-millimeter studies of hot molecular cores have already been conducted and we will use these literature values, of for example ethanol, acetaldehyde, and formamide, in order to test our reaction schemes.
- HANDBOOK OF STAR FORMING REGIONS
- A Rare low mass quadruple spectroscopic AND eclipsing binary
- A search for Main Belt Comets in Pan-STARRS 1
- A search for primordial water from deep in the Earth's mantle
- A spectroscopically unique Main Belt asteroid: 10537 (1991 RY16)
- A Supertree Analysis of the Metazoan Phylogeny
- Acquisition and Installation of a new Cameca ims 1280 ion microprobe
- Acquisition and Installation of Witec Confocal Raman microscope scanning system
- Amorphization of Crystalline Water Ice in the Solar System
- Assessing the likelihood of supernova impact of protoplanetary disks
- Carbonate Lithologies on Devon Island, Canada
- Chemistry and biology of ultramafic-hosted alkaline springs
- Chemistry of the NH3/H2O system
- DIVERSITY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE UNIQUE TROPICAL PHYLUM PLACOZOA
- Dynamical Evolution of Astroid Belt and the Parent Bodies of Iron Meteorites
- Ecology of a Hawaiian lava cave microbial mat
- FMARS Long Duration Mission: a simulation of manned Mars exploration in an analogue environment, Devon Island, Canada
- Formation and Detection of Hot-Earth Objects in Systems with Close-in Jupiters
- Formation and the Prospects of the Detection of Habitable Planets in Extreme Planetary Systems
- Formation of Molecular Hydrogen via Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Hydrocarbon Ices in the Interstellar Medium
- Formation of Planetesimals in a Dynamically Evolving Nebula
- FU ORIONIS ERUPTIONS
- Ice Ages on Mars
- Ice at the Mars Phoenix Landing Site
- Ice on Main Belt Comets
- Icelandic subglacial lakes
- Mechanisms of Marine Microbial Community Structuring
- Mechanistical Studies on the Non-Equilibrium Chemistry of Unusual Carbon Oxide in Solar System Ices
- Modeling grain surface reaction pathways for large organic molecules
- Molecular Deuteration on grain surfaces
- NEWBORN BINARIES
- Observations and Models of comet 17P/Holmes
- Origin and Activation Mechanism of Main Belt Comets
- Origin of Irregular Satellites
- Recovery of comet 85P/Boethin for the Deep Impact Extended Mission
- Sediment-buried basement deep biosphere
- Serpentinazation and abiogenic methane in the Mariana Forearc
- Sleeping through the Arctic Martian Sol
- Spectropolarimetric studies of stars with hot jupiters
- TES study of intracrater low albedo deposits, Amazonis Planitia, Mars
- The delivery of short-lived radionucleides to the solar system
- The effect of lunar-like satellites on the orbital infrared lightcurves of Earth-analog planets
- The Main Belt distribution of basaltic asteroids
- The Size Distribution of Small KBOs
- THE VYSOS PROJECT
- Ultra-violet processing of ices in the Rosette Nebula
- Unveiling the evolution and interplay of ice and gas in quiescent clouds
- Variable Young Stellar Objects Survey (VYSOS)
- Water on Mars
- X-ray- and UV-bright low-mass stars in the solar neighborhood