People: Astrobiology Graduate Students

Sanjoy Som
Earth & Space Sciences

I am a senior graduate student in Earth and Space Sciences. My research interests lie in the Aerospace and Planetary sciences, although since finishing my masters in aerospace engineering, I have found a new interest in early planetary environments.

As such, With Prof. Dave Montgomery, I have been studying the morphology of the fluvial landforms on Mars to get a sense of their flow duration, which hints at the environment present during formation. Also, I look at the mineralogy of the surface to back out the environment in which they formed.

With Prof. Roger Buick, I am looking at 2.7 billion year old lava deposits and study the vesicles trapped in them to infer atmospheric pressure, again from which I hope to extrapolate environmental conditions during formation. Such a study has brought me to the inlands of Western Australia, the Pilbara.

In Australia discussing the origin of life with Roger Buick. (Photo by Jelte Harnmeijer)