Volatile Analysis from the Heating of Interstellar Ice Analogs: VAHIIA

ANR VAHIIAThe challenges of this project consist in simulating through laboratory experiments, the chemical evolution of interstellar ices, and grains to understand the evolution of the organic matter during the life cycle of interstellar grains. Currently, our team is developing two complementary approaches to study this evolution. First, we are investigating the chemical reactivity that can occur within analogs of pristine or cometary ices, by working on small size systems (two or three reactants). Second, we are investigating the characterization of refractory residues formed during photolysis and warming of ice analogs without any degradation using an orbitrap apparatus. We propose to develop a new approach, which consists in implementing an analytical system for the Volatile Analyses coming from the Heating of Interstellar Ice Analogs, the VAHIIA project. This new device will help us to get a better understanding of the chemical reactions that lead to the formation of refractory residues. It will also give crucial information on species that would sublimate during the warming of cometary nucleus. This system will consist in coupling to an ultra-high vacuum cryogenic system, a gas chromatography including a mass spectrometer in order to analyze gas species sublimating during the heating of ice analogs. Therefore, the VAHIIA project will be the missing link between the two existing projects, and the whole will provide a comprehensive experimental approach aiming to trace the chemical history of such analogs by studying the reactivity of ice at low temperature, analyzing the volatile species sublimating during the warming, and characterizing the non-volatile residues resulting from the latter. The VAHIIA project has been already submitted in 2011. The scientific program of the 2012 application is quite the same that of the previous application. The major modifications are present in the description by tasks of this application, and in the request resources. We call such funding for the purchase of the GC-MS device, and for a two years recruitment of a post-doctor, which objectives will be to participate in GC-MS development and analysis. Furthermore, a detail reply to the “retour au coordinateur” is given in section 3 of the annex document