Development of a Novel Instrument to Study the Cosmic Origins of Organic Chemistry and the Cosmo-Chemical Pathway towards Life

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project supports the acquisition of a plasma-beam-forming instrument to study the first stages of the formation of organic molecules in gas-phase interactions. The instrument will simulate energy levels and densities in interstellar space, and attempt to characterize physical conditions that might lead to the creation of the earliest organic molecules, and the combination of the first atoms and molecules into solid materials.