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Project Progress

During this performance year, the multiple (10-set) FTT system became fully operational, and several students assisted in setting up and running FTT experiments (Figure 1). We started a program to investigate FTT efficiency and rates, using commercially available Fe-based catalysts (Fe, magnetite-Fe₃O₄, hematite-Fe₂O₃, goethite-FeO(OH). Additionally, we began long-term low-temperature (200-300°C) FTT experiments using synthesized metal-silicate dust that included noble gases in the mix; two of these experiments are ongoing and have been running continuously for over eight months.

Dr. Hany Sobhi (Coppin State University) joined the project during this reporting period. Dr. Sobhi was supported through the 2012 NASA Astrobiology Program Minority Institution Research Support (NAP-MIRS) Program. Through our collaboration, we mentored two Coppin undergraduate students Nathaniel Whitt (Fall semester) and Annette Butler (academic year). Their task was to continue the exploratory studies started the previous summer on the efficiency of the commercial substrates. Preliminary results from Dr. Sobhi’s subsequent research on the reacted grains suggest formation of iron/carbon clusters.

The summer of 2013 brought us the efforts of an excellent student, Meghan McCarthy from Harvard University. Meghan was selected as one of the Undergraduate Research Associates in Astrobiology (URAA), a program organized by the Goddard Center for Astrobiology (GCA) of which we are members. Meghan systematically explored the similarities and, in greater depth, the differences between iron and magnetite as FTT catalysts through temperature and reaction cycle. She clearly demonstrated that the organic coating developed on the grains through FTT reactions served as a ‘better’ catalyst than did the original grain surface. Her findings provide a basis for further exploration, particularly that of possible amino acid formation, as well as whether the catalyst’s initial oxidation state may control the end-state reaction products.