Planetary scientists receive funds for Mars mineral research

Catalano

Researchers have received a $279,639, three-year grant from the NASA Mars Fundamental Research Program for the project “Experimental Constraints on Mineralogical and Compositional Changes during Basalt Alteration and Phyllosilicate Formation under Mars-Relevant Conditions.”

They are Jeffrey G. Catalano, PhD, associate professor, and Richard V. Morris, PhD, adjunct professor, both in earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

The project seeks to determine how clay minerals formed on Mars and ways they have been altered since then. The research will help reconstruct environmental conditions on early Mars.