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Dr Feargus Abernethy

Profile summary

  • Academic Related Staff
  • Senior Spaceflight Project Officer
  • Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
  • School of Physical Sciences
  • feargus.abernethy

Professional biography

Education

2006 - 2010: BSc (Hons) Geology at the University of Edinburgh

2010 - 2014: PhD in achondrite (angrite, HED and martian) C & N volatile geochemistry at The Open University

Employment

2014 - 2016: Project Officer (Finesse) at the Open University

Responsibility for the ongoing development and maintenence of the Finesse gas source mass spectrometry system.

2016 - present: Project Officer (ProSPA development models) at the Open University

Development of a breadboard system to inform the development of the ProSPA volatiles analysis package for ESA PROSPECT.

Research interests

My work currently focuses principally on the delivery and exploitation of spaceflight and bespoke lab instrumentation to determine the volatile abundances and stable isotope compositions of both terrestrial and extraterrestrial geological samples. I have a key role within the team delivering the ProSPA volatile analysis package as part of ESA's involvement with the Russian Luna 27 mission, due for launch in 2025.

I am also currently responsible for the operation of the FINESSE static-vacuum mass spectrometry system, designed for the simultaneous analysis of carbon, nitrogen and noble gases from a single sample, and the Raman spectroscopy lab. Through these labs I have been involved in a range of projects to quantify volatiles and characterise samples ranging from meteorites to commercial glasses to sporopollenin. I am interested on working on anything that can make use of these facilities. Some examples of previous projects are outlined below:

  • Analysis of carbon and nitrogen volatile components in angrites, HEDs and martian samples. (Finesse)
  • Characterisation of carbon and nitrogen within ureilitic fragments of Almahata Sitta. (Finesse)
  • The effects of acetolysis on sporopollenin. (Raman)
  • Carbon, nitrogen and argon analysis of commercial glass compounds. (Finesse)
  • Analysis of diamonds for nitrogen content (Finesse)

External collaborations

  • Analysis of enstatite chondrite clasts of Almahata Sitta (Prof. Hilary Downes, Birkbeck University of London)
  • Sporopollenin chemistry (Dr Phillip Jardine, University of Münster)
  • Member of the PROSPECT science team
  • Member of the topical teams for the ESA Voyage 2050 review