Making Habitable Worlds: The Formation and Evolution of Moons and Planets

我们的太阳系——由8颗行星及其卫星环绕的太阳，是4.6亿年前由尘埃和气体云形成的。从那时起，它经历了惊人的变化，从行星体及其卫星的形成，到这些天体的地质演化，再到生命的出现。我们将使用多管齐下的方法来研究所有这些过程，包括对来自太空的岩石（陨石）和行星模拟材料的实验室测量，以及对从航天器返回的图像和数据的分析。我们可以通过研究起源于岩石小行星的陨石来了解太阳系历史的早期阶段。一些小行星在它们的历史中一直处于休眠状态，并保留了曾经围绕新形成的太阳旋转的物质。我们建议既研究高温形成的铂族元素块，也研究更脆弱的有机成分，以了解太阳系形成的原始汤。水的存在和作用并不局限于地球、小行星和彗星。火星探测任务显示，火星表面散布着含水矿物，但尚未带回可供我们在实验室研究的样本。幸运的是，我们的藏品中有一些来自火星的陨石，我们计划利用Li同位素研究这些陨石，以了解水在近期历史中的作用，Li同位素是一种工具，已经成功地用于研究地球上的水的作用，但尚未用于火星样本。火星有两个小卫星，火卫一和火卫二。然而，关于这些天体是如何形成的还没有达成共识。通过分析可能与火星卫星类似的陨石，我们将有助于确定它们的组成，从而确定它们的起源。整个太阳系的一个重要过程是天体之间的碰撞。抬头仰望月球，你会发现陨石坑对月球的历史是多么重要，对太阳系的所有行星也是如此。我们可以通过行星表面陨石坑的数量来测量行星表面的年龄。通过观察最近发生在月球上的过程和变化我们可以使陨石坑计数技术更加准确。将我们的研究成果传达给不同的受众，尤其是在校学生，并与我们的学术、政府和行业同事交流信息，这是我们工作的关键部分。

Our Solar System - the Sun orbited by 8 planets and their moons, formed 4.6 Gyr ago from a cloud of dust and gas. Since then it has undergone amazing changes, from the formation of planetary bodies and their moons, the geological evolution of these bodies and the emergence of life. We will study all of these processes using a multi-pronged approach involving laboratory measurements of rocks from space (meteorites) and planetary analogue material, and analysis of images and data returned from spacecraft. We can learn about the early stages of the solar system's history by studying meteorites that originated in rocky asteroids. Some asteroids have remained rather dormant throughout their history, and preserve the very materials that were once swirling around the newly forming Sun. We propose to study both the high-temperature formed platinum group element nuggets as well as the more fragile organic components to learn about the primordial soup from which the solar system emerged.The presence and action of water is not limited to the Earth, asteroids and comets. Missions to Mars have revealed its surface to be strewn with water-bearing minerals but have yet to return samples that we can study in the laboratory. We are fortunate to have a selection of meteorites that originated on Mars in our collection, and we plan to study these to learn about the action of water during its recent history, using Li isotopes, a tool that has been used successfully for studying the action of water on Earth but not yet been used for Mars samples. The planet Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. However there is no consensus about how these objects formed. By analysing meteorites that may be analogous to the martian moons, we will help constrain their composition and therefore their origins. An important process throughout the solar system is impacts between bodies. Looking up to the Moon one can see how vital cratering was to its history, and the same holds for all the planets in the solar system. We can measure the age of planetary surfaces from the number of craters on them. By looking at the very recent processes and changes that are happening on the Moon very recently we can make the crater counting technique more accurate. It is a key part of our work to communicate our research to diverse audiences especially including school students, and to exchange information with our academic, governmental and industrial colleagues.