Lecture - Dr Susanne Schwenzer - "Noble gases on Mars."

In this lecture, Dr Susanne Schwenzer will explain how these special gases helped link a set of meteorites to Mars. 

Every rock has its own story, and noble gases help us to find out what that story is. Noble gases are also in today's planetary atmospheres, and the Perseverance rover should return with a sample of the Martian atmosphere to enable us to find out more about the atmosphere and the environmental conditions on the surface of Mars over time.

About Dr Schwenzer (in her own words)

I am a Professor of Planetary Mineralogy in the School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, and a mineralogist by training. I joined the Open University in 2009 for a post doctoral position, became a Research Investment Fellow in 2013, a lecturer in 2015, a senior lecturer in 2017, and a professor in 2024.

My professional journey started with the goal to become a journalist... I decided to study a natural science and settled on mineralogy. During my studies I worked at a German newspaper in parallel, and then decided to pursue a PhD. I graduated from University of Mainz with my PhD in 2004 and held post-doctoral positions in the field of noble gases (Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry, Germany) and impact-cratering (Lunar and Planetary Institute, US), before coming to the OU.

Here at the OU I am associate director of AstrobiologyOU, and the postgraduate tutor in the School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences. Internationally, I am part of the NASA Curiosity Rover science team, an interdisciplinary scientist of the ESA Rosalind Franklin Rover mission, of the Mars Sample Return Campaign Science Group (MSCG) and the National Academies A strategy for Humans to Mars panel. I serve as an associate editor at Geochemistry, and as the chair of the publications committee of the Meteoritical Society.

Source:  The Open University