Grants and Contributions

Early stages of galaxy formation are thought to involve repeated cycles of merging sub-galactic building blocks, accompanied by tidally induced bursts of star formation. To test this scenario, this project uses JWST’s Integral Field Spectrograph to observationally and in detail examine an archetypical example of such a merging system that we discovered just one billion years after the Big Bang. With these data, the team will examine the conditions in this interacting galaxy pair, including the conditions in the interstellar gas in the system. The analysis of this data will shed new light on the early phases of the formation of galaxies like our own Milky Way.

This project aims to explore the mysteries of dark matter and galaxy formation using the Bullet Cluster as a cosmic laboratory. By leveraging gravitational lensing, this project will study how dark matter interacts and behaves, providing insights into whether cold dark matter or alternative theories, like self-interacting dark matter, better explain the universe's composition. The project combines data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and high-resolution weak lensing to accurately map the cluster's mass distribution. The second key goal focuses on newly discovered, highly magnified galaxies at high redshifts (z>5) to enhance our understanding of galaxy formation during the universe's early epochs.

This project will use the first James Webb Space Telescope images of the nearby planet Epsilon Eridani b, also known as Aegir, to determine its orbit and mass. This planet is anticipated to be quite similar to our solar system’s own planet Jupiter, and it orbits one of the closest sun-like stars just 10 light years away. Measuring its mass and orbit will allow us to learn more about how giant planets form and cool over billions of years, and ultimately end up like (or unlike) our own solar system’s Jupiter and Saturn.

The Lunar Vertex payload will be delivered to the Moon to study the Reiner Gamma lunar swirl, a bright, unusual marking, collocated with a magnetic anomaly, both of unknown origin. Our main objective is to characterize the composition and regolith properties at the Reiner Gamma swirl from the orbit to the ground, to better constrain its origin. The team will use the orbital remote sensing images and images acquired by a microscope on the rover to characterize the composition and texture of the regolith before and during the Lunar Vertex mission, as the rover drives across the swirl.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will observe the planetary nebula Tc 1, known for its abundance of fullerenes, a type of carbon molecule shaped like a soccer ball. These observations aim to understand the nebula’s unique composition and the role of fullerenes in space. The analysis will determine the types and amounts of elements and molecules in Tc 1. This will help in understanding how fullerenes form and survive in space. The results will provide insights into the lifecycle of stars and the physical and chemical processes in the universe, and the role of large carbonaceous molecules in the evolution of stars and planets.

This investigation will analyze the infrared spectra (JWST/NIRSpec and JWST/MIRI-MRS) of seven carbon-rich stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds that represent different stages in the evolution from red giants to planetary nebulae. Their spectra exhibit a variety of features from simple species (like acetylene, C2H2) to more complex chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. This investigation will exploit the unprecedented combination of spectral resolution, wavelength coverage, and sensitivity offered by NIRSpec and the MRS to explore the chemistry of complex hydrocarbons as carbon stars evolve into planetary nebulae. The resulting spectra will sample the gas and dust at different stages of evolution as carbon-rich objects seed their host galaxies with fresh dust.

This project will support the 2016 ExoMars TGO/CaSSIS mission operations and science. Science investigations under the Impact Cratering and Composition & Photometry science theme groups are emphasized herein. Impact cratering has shaped the geology of Mars and influenced volatile exchange between its lithosphere, hydrosphere/cryosphere, and atmosphere. These interactions are recorded in surface minerals revealing a complex history and insights into both past and present processes, climate and habitability.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey will obtain wide-field, time-series imaging to search for microlensing events of extrasolar planet systems. The proposed project will leverage these observations to demonstrate the ability of Roman imaging to also detect transiting exoplanets. Initial estimates suggest that 100 000 new transiting planets can be discovered, which will transform our knowledge of exoplanet demographics. Our project will develop the necessary infrastructure to optimize Roman observations for transit-exoplanet science.

Recent progress in the field of cosmology has been spectacular but has thrown up some big questions: we don't know what the dominant constituents of the Universe – dark matter and dark energy - are, or even why they are present. 2025-2028 will be an extremely important period for cosmology with surveys using the ESA-led Euclid satellite mission, and the NASA-led Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope spearheading experimental advances. This project will support the senior management positions held by the PI within the teams analysing data from these experiments and provide key opportunities for the training of junior scientists.

Participate in NASA’s Human Research Program largest research effort to pursue the first integrated data analysis from 71 astronauts collected over 12 years.
Assess metabolomic biomarkers in blood and urine to identify metabolic signatures linked to long-duration spaceflight.
Using artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches, link metabolomic profiles to individual physiological, environmental, dietary, medical, and exercise data to gain insights into sex-specific adaptative mechanisms, pathogenic pathways, and risk factors of spaceflight.