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Lunar and Planetary Laboratory & Department of Planetary Sciences | The University of Arizona
Planetary Materials are those pieces of condensed matter that were leftover from the time that our solar system formed over 4.5 billion years ago. Current emphasis is on determining the structure of materials at the atomic scale using transmission electron microscopy. In addition, we are pursuing instrumentation to analyze samples that will be brought back from asteroids and other Solar System bodies in the 2020s.
Planetary Materials are those pieces of condensed matter that were leftover from the time that our solar system formed over 4.5 billion years ago. Such materials include interplanetary dust particles, pre-solar grains, primitive meteorites and soils from the Moon and asteroids. The Planetary Materials Research Group studies the constituent minerals within such samples at scales ranging from micrometers down to the atomic. We use information on crystal structure and chemistry to understand the conditions under which such minerals formed.
Assistant Professor
Professor Emeritus
Regents ProfessorPrincipal Investigator, OSIRIS-REx
Professor
University of Arizona Space Institute DirectorProfessor Emeritus
PTYS Graduate Student
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Research Specialist, Senior
