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Birkbeck academics present recent planetary sciences research at CPS annual meeting

Seismic activity on Mars, Lunar Mission One and granitic meterorites are just some of the topics covered at this year's summer meeting.

June 25 saw the fifth summer meeting of the Centre for Planetary Sciences (CPS), a joint UCL/Birkbeck research centre, take place at UCL. The keynote talk, Updates from MSSL Planetary Science’s projects, was given by Professor Andrew Coates of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory.

Lecturers from Birkbeck’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences reported on some of the ground-breaking planetary sciences research being undertaken in the department. Professor Hilary Downes’ talk covered research into a meteorite containing granite, a substance more commonly associated with our own planet, Earth. Dr Louise Alexander shared her research on Apollo 12 basalts with its implications for future analysis of gram-sized samples from the Moon and other planets.

Dr Peter Grindrod looked at how optical image correlation can help to find and measure evidence of seismic activity on Mars. Postdoc researcher, Dr Eliot Sefton-Nash, reported on the work behind the selection of ExoMars 2018 Rover landing sites. PhD student, Jennifer Harris shared her research into hydrothermal systems on Mars, a potential indicator of past habitable regions on the planet. Professor Ian Crawford explained the scientific case for Lunar Mission One, a robotic mission to the South Pole of the Moon, with the potential to prepare the way for further human and robotic exploration of the planet.

Blog: An Evening with the Planets: Several of the speakers at the annual meeting also took part in this event, designed to bring planetary research to a wider audience.

[Originally published July 2015]

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