Today was the last day of lab work at the Johnson Space Center. I went to work around 9:00 AM and started imaging the smallest Nakhla Martian Meteorite grain. The size of this sample is barely visible but there is so much more to it. I magnified the sample to about 20,000 times with the scanning electron microscope and there was a whole world down there. I mean, it was just spectacular. When I was examining the different regions of the sample, I noticed multiple plates or layers within that area and they were composed of different geological features. It was really crazy. The plates or layers revealed to me that the meteorite experienced multiple episodes of water flowing through it. Another evidence that showed us that water was present on Mars is the complex geological features which had phyllosilicates in them. For a better understanding of this, phyllosilicates are a type of clay mineral and we all know that the formation of clay needs water. After hours of doing this, my mentor and I moved on to the intermediate sized sample to look for carbonaceous matter. While we were doing this, we took pictures of a very complex terrain in various angles so we can create a 3D image. Dr. Keprta's colleague then took those images and made it appear 3D. It is really cool. We did the same thing after we found our carbonaceous material. After finding this aspect, we mapped it to identify what all elements make up that material. We found large peaks in carbon, nitrogen, calcium, etc. The nitrogen was especially exciting because it supported another research analysis that my mentor had done before. Even though we found exciting things, we still have to make sure that it wasn't contaminated. We definitely worked for a long time today but it was really fun. Apart from lab work, I got to have lunch with scientists from Japan, which was amazing. They were super nice and it was really cool to learn what the Japanese Space Agency is currently doing. Tomorrow, I will be attending the Lunar Planetary Science Conference to learn about astrobiology. I am so excited!
