1900 followed by a lecture: ‘A Mass Spectrometer Too Far? The Rosetta Mission to Analyse a Comet’ By Professor John Todd (Emeritus Professor of Mass Spectroscopy, University of Kent, Canterbury)
One of the most ambitious experiments on board the Philae Lander that, on 12th November 2014, bounced down on to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the Open University’s Ptolemy instrument, designed to undertake precision isotope ratio measurements of volatile and solid material on and beneath the surface. The purpose of the study is to ascertain whether, for example, the isotopic composition of water on 67P matches that on Earth. A key component of this automated miniature chemical laboratory is a specially adapted quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer (QITMS), designed to analyse the eluent from a complex system of reactors and gas chromatography columns. The speaker, who was part of the team that developed the QITMS for this exciting and highly challenging application, will describe some of the perils and pitfalls of creating an instrument that had to survive the extreme conditions of a four billion-mile journey through space and still be functional some 15 years after being packaged for delivery!
Both members and partners/guests are welcome at the AGM and lecture
To attend, please return the form below no later than Friday 20th March 2015 to: Dave Alker, 19 Shakespeare Road, Birchington, CT7 9ET; E-mail: dave.alker@btinternet.com
If you are interested in serving on the Kent Local Section committee in any capacity, please contact Dave Alker by 13th March 2014
One of the most ambitious experiments on board the Philae Lander that, on 12th November 2014, bounced down on to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the Open University’s Ptolemy instrument, designed to undertake precision isotope ratio measurements of volatile and solid material on and beneath the surface. The purpose of the study is to ascertain whether, for example, the isotopic composition of water on 67P matches that on Earth. A key component of this automated miniature chemical laboratory is a specially adapted quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer (QITMS), designed to analyse the eluent from a complex system of reactors and gas chromatography columns. The speaker, who was part of the team that developed the QITMS for this exciting and highly challenging application, will describe some of the perils and pitfalls of creating an instrument that had to survive the extreme conditions of a four billion-mile journey through space and still be functional some 15 years after being packaged for delivery!
Both members and partners/guests are welcome at the AGM and lecture
To attend, please return the form below no later than Friday 20th March 2015 to: Dave Alker, 19 Shakespeare Road, Birchington, CT7 9ET; E-mail: dave.alker@btinternet.com
If you are interested in serving on the Kent Local Section committee in any capacity, please contact Dave Alker by 13th March 2014
