New Icy Worlds Laboratory open!

We are excited to have officially opened the new Icy Worlds Laboratory here as part of AstrobiologyOU! In this lab, we will conduct experiments at extremely low temperatures to help understand processes at our Solar System's icy worlds including Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus. 

A major focus of the team's work is on how liquid water originating from the deep subsurface oceans of these worlds is transformed as it freezes, and how any dissolved salts or organic compounds might be affected by this process. 

The work here will help interpret data from a range of space missions including Cassini, the James Webb Space Telescope, Europa Clipper and JUICE.

The lab was officially opened by Director of AstrobiologyOU, Prof Karen Olsson-Francis. In attendance were icy worlds group lead Dr Mark Fox-Powell, postdoctoral researcher Dr Rachael Hamp, and AstrobiologyOU PhD students Jessica Hogan and Liam Durrant.