| Astrochemistry - What we know and what we need to determine |
| Nigel Mason |
| University of Kent, UK |
| The last decade has revealed a rich and unexpected chemistry in space. In those regions of the Interstellar Medium (ISM) where giant clouds of cold dust gather to form stars (and planets) a rich and diverse chemistry has been revealed with the synthesis of a diversity of organic molecules including the presence of fullerenes and tantalising evidence of prebiotic compounds that may form the building blocks of life. Simultaneously space missions across the Solar system are likewise revealing a range of chemistry from the formation of organics in the atmosphere of Titan to the discovery of 'chemical zoo' - in the ices of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Yet how can such chemistry occur in environments where the temperature is so low that chemical reactions should almost cease? How in the empty regions of the ISM do reactants interact? And what are the energy sources that stimulate such chemistry? The field of astrochemistry explores these questions and, through a combination of observation, experiment and modelling, is providing answers to the question of how and what molecules may be formed in astronomical/space environments. This research that may reveal the chemical origins of life itself and hence whether life may be prevalent throughout the Universe and how we can search for it in other exoplanetary systems. In this talk I will present a summary of what we know now and what future missions such as the JSWT space telescope, ESA's Juice mission to Jovian system and Exoplanet studies (CHEOPS, PLATO and ARIEL) will allow us to discover. |