Taylor Ha
3 dispatches · Potrillo Volcanic Field
Reading a Meteorite with Laser Light
A Raman spectrometer fires a laser at a sample and reads the energy shift of the scattered light, a molecular signature precise enough to identify individual compounds. At Stony Brook University, RIS4E graduate student Jordan Young used the instrument to hunt for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons locked inside meteorite slices, trying to distinguish how different space rocks had chemically changed over time.
ReadScorching Sun and Deadly Snakes: Staying Safe in the Field
The RIS4E team’s June 2017 fieldwork at Kilbourne Hole and Aden Crater came with a full catalog of hazards: rattlesnakes, cactus needles, unstable lava footing, and temperatures that hit 105 degrees on the first day, far beyond the desert’s usual mid-90s. Team leader Jacob Bleacher had prepared exhaustively, but the heat still melted boots and sidelined instruments before the team adapted.
ReadTim Glotch: RIS4E Rock Star
Tim Glotch, a planetary geologist at Stony Brook University, led the RIS4E project, a $5.5 million NASA-funded effort, as its principal investigator. At Kilbourne Hole in June 2017 he directed a 43-person team testing handheld instruments in the desert, drawing on a career built on spectroscopy and volcanic fieldwork to prepare the science for the next human missions to the Moon and Mars.
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