Laboratory Astrochemistry

Abstract

The complex chemistry that pervades planetery and lunar bodies in our Solar System and in exoplanetery systems is responsible for the synthesis of molecules in the interstellar medium is now known to be largely heterogenous chemistry driven by ion, photon and electron collisions with molecular ices. Such processes can now be simulated in laboratory experiments providing the opportunity to explore such extraterrestrial chemistry here on Earth and so test hypotheses on the mechanisms for such chemistry arising from growing observational database derived from recent astronomical studies and planetary missions.