Is Phobos a captured asteroid, or debris from a giant impact on Mars? JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission launched in October 2026 to find out, and is due to bring a sample of Phobos back to Earth in 2031. I am a co-investigator on the MMX Origins of Phobos and Deimos (OPD) science team. My work helps interpret remote infrared observations of Phobos.
I completed my DPhil at the University of Oxford and the Natural History Museum, London. My thesis, Phobos's Origin: A Ground-Truthing Investigation Through Laboratory Analysis of Meteorites, built a catalogue of candidate Phobos analogue meteorites. I then measured their spectral and mineralogical properties to ground-truth remote sensing observations.
My first-author study (submitted to MNRAS) estimated the spectral detectability of Martian ejecta on Phobos's surface. I found that locally concentrated Mars-like material can be spectrally distinguished from orbit at a few weight per cent, however the ppm-level material expected from globally dispersed ejecta cannot, so identifying globally dispersed material will require MMX's sample return.
I also led the PRIME mission concept white paper (45 researchers, 15 institutions) and convened a Royal Astronomical Society specialist meeting on science enabled by small-body sample return.
Invited talks
- Investigating the origin of Phobos through spectral and mineralogical analysis of meteorites. The Open University, 2026.
- Linking the mid-infrared reflectance spectra and electron-microscope composition of meteorites to Phobos. MMX Origins of Phobos science working team, 2025.
- Correlating infrared reflectance spectra of meteorites with X-ray diffraction and modal mineralogy. Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC), Paris, 2025.
Techniques
Laboratory: precious sample handling and preparation; powder X-ray diffraction (XRD); micro and diffuse Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) reflectance spectroscopy, visible–near-infrared to mid-infrared; scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with EDX; electron microprobe analysis (EPMA); thermogravimetric analysis (TGA); micro-computed tomography (micro-CT); vacuum systems; optical alignment and calibration.
Code and data: Python (NumPy, SciPy, pandas, matplotlib; spectral modelling; XRD analysis toolkit) and MATLAB (data processing, instrument control). Multivariate analysis, and correlating laboratory spectra to remote-sensing observations.
Outside the lab
Selected for the British Biathlon / GB Nordic Ski Development Team (2021/22) and competed nationally in 2023 and 2024.
I'm open to postdoctoral and research opportunities in experimental planetary science: get in touch.