About Ian Malone

I want to start by saying thank you for selecting me as a recipient of the ASSURE scholarship. I am excited to be given an opportunity to explore my interests in the deep time of our solar system and the planets that inhabit it. I have always had an interest in the formation of our solar system, and particularly our planet Earth. In this project I will be studying a type of meteorite called Carbonaceous Chondrites from Hayabusa2 mission in 2021. Carbonaceous chondrite are hydrated meteorites form from the vapor of nebulas in the preliminary stages of solid matter formation in our Solar System mirroring the composition of the Sun. Carbonaceous Chondrites show a diverse range of features that are diagnostic of the presence of liquid water on asteroids, 4.567 billion years ago. Because of this, I will look at aqueous alteration processes in early Solar System materials such as meteorites using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Being able to study these specimens provides an incredibly unique look into an exceptionally early part in the formation of the universe, our Solar system and Earth.