Understanding the Solar System through the Xenon Isotopic Record

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The ultimate goal of my research is to constrain the heavy noble gas content of material returned from the comet 81P/Wild 2 by the Stardust mission. The Stardust mission returned cometary matter which comprises some of the most primitive and pristine solar system material available on earth; constraining the nature of the xenon contained in cometary matter will fill a gap in the literature surrounding the heavy noble gas content of cometary material, and also provide valuable constraints on the origins and history of primitive solar system materials. To summarise, I will be conducting two parallel experiments on identical Stardust material analogues (aerogel, Q-rich organic Vigarano separate, and SW-rich lunar meteorite) using the RELAX instrument; one experiment (the control) will be conducted using the typical stepwise heating approach for each analogue component separately, the other will liberate gases from each component using closed system stepped etching (CSSE) on the entire analogue (first with HF for the SW-rich silicate component, then HNO3 for the Q-rich organic component). The 'true' results of the stepwise heating experiment will then be compared to the results of the stepped etching experiment, providing a measure of CSSE's applicability for the analysis of Stardust materials. Should this technique prove to be successful, I will acquire a Stardust sample and conduct an experiment to determine its xenon content using CSSE and RELAX.