PSSRI Space-based activities As well as a heritage in space exploration spanning Giotto (1986), which intercepted comet Halley, through Beagle 2 to Cassini-Huygens, PSSRI has involvement in ongoing missions including Genesis, which returned solar wind samples to Earth (2004), Stardust, which collected cometary materials in early 2004 and will return them to Earth (2006) and Rosetta, which will place hardware built at the Open University on the surface of a comet in 2014.
Development over the next 5 years will involve planning for a number of future spaceflight opportunities, including the design and construction of instrumentation for an exobiology mission to Mars (ExoMars), preparing for a sample-return mission to Mars, a mission to Europa, and other opportunities associated with near-Earth objects. Closer collaborations with other groups in the Centre for Earth Planetary Space and Astronomical Research (CEPSAR) will involve investigations of an exobiological nature, volcanism on other worlds and planetary geochemistry.
PSSRI Ground-based activities The ground-based activities of PSSRI revolve around a number of laboratory investigations in the fields of cosmochemistry, hypervelocity impacts, space environmental simulation and studies of the physics and chemistry of planetary surfaces. PSSRI has an international reputation for research into all aspects of planetary evolution including the early solar system, interstellar grains, impacts on Earth, and astrobiology (specifically, 'is there life on Mars'). Analytical expertise in analysis of carbon and oxygen isotopes has led to the provision of highly sophisticated analytical instruments for space missions and continues to form the basis of future research. The group has a similarly high international profile in studies of 'space dust' and hypervelocity research. They are also involved with observational activities directed towards the minor bodies of the Solar System, which is set to grow through an exploitation of the facility known as Super-WASP (see under ARG).
Activity over the next 5 years will include the hypervelocity impact centre, which will involve the development of commercial opportunities, planning for a sample-return mission to Mars, as well as the analysis of samples returned from the Sun, a comet and an asteroid. Closer collaborations with other groups in CEPSAR will include understanding of the effects of terrestrial impacts, planetary evolution, and volcanism on other worlds.
