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Dr James Mortimer

Profile summary

  • Academic Related Staff
  • Project Officer (Lunar Volatiles)
  • Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
  • School of Physical Sciences
  • james.mortimer

Professional biography

Education:

2007-2011: BSc (Hons) Geoscience at The University of St Andrews

2012-2016: PhD in Lunar Volatile (C, N, He, Ne, Ar) Geochemistry at The Open University

Employment:

April 2016 - September 2016: Charge d'Etudes at Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France (short contract to conduct a study into the sublimation and subsequent isotopic fractionation behaviour of water ice under vacuum, in support of ESA's PROSPECT lunar exploration package)

October 2016 - March 2017: Project Officer at The Open University (short term contract to prepare and characterise two carbonaceous chondrite meteorite standards for future verification of the ESA PROSPECT package 'ProSPA' instrument)

March 2017 - May 2018: Project Officer at The Open University (fixed term contract to study the interaction of spacecraft thruster exhaust gases with the surface of Phobos and to quantify likely contamination levels of H, C, and N)  

2018- present: Project Officer (Lunar Volatiles), responsible for aspects of ProSPA development relating to sublimation of water ice from icy lunar regoliths, and unerstanding cleanliness and contamination impacts to ensure maximum possible scientific measurement quality during PROSPECT operations at the lunar surface.

Research interests

  • Volatiles in the Solar System, particularly light element volatiles (including H, C, N, O, noble gases etc.), and their source(s), modes of delivery, and contributions to the volatile budgets of airless bodies and telluric atmospheres

External collaborations

  • Member of ESA's PROSPECT Science Team

Publications

PROSPECT: A comprehensive sample acquisition and analysis package for lunar science and exploration (2024)
Trautner, R.; Barber, S. J.; Fisackerly, R.; Heather, D.; Houdou, B.; Howe, C.; Iacobellis, S.; Leese, M.; Mariani, A.; Meogrossi, G.; Murray, N.; Panza, C.; Reiss, P.; Rusconi, A.; Abernethy, F.; Cann, N.; Chinnery, H.; Gscheidle, C.; Landsberg, P.; Lindner, R.; Morse, A. D.; Mortimer, J.; Nicolae, L.; Picchi, P.; Sheridan, S. and Verchovsky, A.
Frontiers in Space Technologies, 5, Article 1331828

The Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS) Investigation Development and Preflight Planning (2024)
Cohen, Barbara A.; Barber, Simeon J.; Driggers, Phillip A.; Heather, David; Howe, Christopher; Landsberg, Peter; Morse, Thomas; Trautner, Roland; Abernethy, Feargus; Butroid, Emma-May; Curran, Natalie M.; Delepaut, Christophe; Elliott, Ellis; Fernandez Salgado, Javier; Generie, Joseph A.; Hager, Philipp; Hall, Sophie; Hillier, Fiona; Hodgkins, Max; Iacobellis, Sara; Kasjanowicz, Alicja; Koekkoek, Ewout; Leese, Mark; Lundmark, Karin; Mayers, Jeremy; Morse, Andrew; Mortimer, James; Peabody, Hume L.; Reast, Patrick; Sheridan, Simon; Stamper, Richard; Steigner, Peter J.; Stier, Harald; Summers, Lauren; Tucker, Orenthal J.; Whalley, Martin and Woodward, Simon
The Planetary Science Journal, 5, Article 212(9)

Constraining the Evolutionary History of the Moon and the Inner Solar System: A Case for New Returned Lunar Samples (2019)
Tartèse, Romain; Anand, Mahesh; Gattacceca, Jérôme; Joy, Katherine H.; Mortimer, James; Pernet-Fisher, John F.; Russell, Sara; Snape, Joshua F. and Weiss, Benjamin P.
Space Science Reviews, 215, Article 54(8)

D/H fractionation during sublimation of water ice at low temperatures into a vacuum (2018-09-01)
Mortimer, James; Lécuyer, Christophe; Fourel, Franҫois and Carpenter, James
Planetary And Space Science, 158 (pp. 25-33)

Predominantly Non-Solar Origin of Nitrogen in Lunar Soils (2016-08-04)
Mortimer, J.; Verchovsky, S. and Anand, M.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 193 (pp. 36-53)

Simultaneous analysis of abundance and isotopic composition of nitrogen, carbon, and noble gases in lunar basalts: insights into interior and surface processes on the Moon (2015-07-15)
Mortimer, J.; Verchovsky, A. B.; Anand, M.; Gilmour, I. and Pillinger, C. T.
Icarus, 255 (pp. 3-17)

Magmatic volatiles (H, C, N, F, S, Cl) in the lunar mantle, crust, and regolith: abundances, distributions, processes, and reservoirs (2015)
McCubbin, Francis M.; Vander Kaaden, Kathleen E.; Tartèse, Romain; Klima, Rachel L.; Liu, Yang; Mortimer, James; Barnes, Jessica J.; Shearer, Charles K.; Treiman, Allan H.; Lawrence, David J.; Elardo, Stephen M.; Hurley, Dana M.; Boyce, Jeremy W. and Anand, Mahesh
American Mineralogist, 100(8-9) (pp. 1668-1707)

Experimentally Exploring Factors Affecting Water Ice Sublimation Rates to Inform Development of ESA’s PROSPECT Package (2020)
Mortimer, James; Chinnery, Hannah; Barber, Simeon and Leese, Mark
In : European Lunar Symposium (ELS) 2020 (12-14 May 2020, Virtual)

An Experimental Approach to Understanding Sublimation Water Ice Losses from Planetary Regolith Analogue Mixtures for ESA’s PROSPECT Package (2019)
Mortimer, James; Barber, Simeon and Leese, Mark
In : European Lunar Symposium (ELS) 2019 (21-23 May 2019, Manchester, United Kingdom)

ProSPA: Analysis of Lunar Polar Volatiles and ISRU Demonstration on the Moon (2018)
Barber, S. J.; Wright, I. P.; Abernethy, F.; Anand, M.; Dewar, K. R.; Hodges, M.; Landsberg, P.; Leese, M. R.; Morgan, G. H.; Morse, A. D.; Mortimer, J.; Sargeant, Hannah; Sheard, I.; Sheridan, S.; Verchovsky, A.; Goesmann, F.; Howe, C.; Morse, T.; Lillywhite, N.; Quinn, A.; Missaglia, N.; Pedrali, M.; Reiss, P.; Rizzi, F.; Rusconi, A.; Savoia, M.; Zamboni, A.; Merrifield, J. A.; Gibson, E. K.; Carpenter, J.; Fisackerly, R.; Houdou, B.; Sefton-Nash, E. and Trautner, R.
In : 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2018 (19-23 Mar 2018, The Woodlands, Houston, Texas, USA)

ProSPA: An instrument for lunar polar volatiles prospecting and in situ resource utilization proof of concept (2018)
Barber, S. J.; Wright, Ian; Abernethy, Feargus; Anand, Mahesh; Dewar, Kevin; Hodges, Martyna; Landsberg, Peter; Leese, Mark; Morgan, Geraint; Morse, Andrew; Mortimer, James; Sargeant, Hannah; Sheard, Iain; Sheridan, Simon; Verchovsky, Sasha; Goesmann, F.; Howe, C.; Morse, T.; Lillywhite, N.; Quinn, A.; Missaglia, N.; Pedrali, M.; Reiss, P.; Rizzi, F.; Rusconi, R.; Savoia, M.; Zamboni, A.; Merrifield, J.; Gibson, Everett; Carpenter, J.; Fisackerly, R.; Houdou, B.; Sefton-Nash, E. and Trautner, R.
In : European Lunar Symposium (ELS) 2018 (13-16 May 2018, Toulouse, France)

PROSPECTing for Lunar Polar Volatiles: the ProSPA Miniature In-situ Science Laboratory (2017-05-02)
Barber, S. J.; Smith, Phillipa; Wright, Ian; Abernethy, Feargus; Anand, Mahesh; Dewar, Kevin; Hodges, Martyna; Landsberg, Peter; Leese, Mark; Morgan, Geraint; Morse, Andrew; Mortimer, James; Sargeant, Hannah; Sheard, Iain; Sheridan, Simon; Verchovsky, Sasha; Goesmann, F.; Howe, C.; Morse, T.; Lillywhite, N.; Quinn, A.; Missaglia, N.; Pedrali, M.; Reiss, P.; Rizzi, F.; Rusconi, A.; Savoia, M.; Zamboni, A.; Merrifield, J.; Gibson, Everett; Carpenter, J.; Fisackerly, R. and Houdou, B.
In : European Lunar Symposium (ELS) 2017 (2-3 May 2017, Munster, Germany)

Preparing and Characterizing Carbonaceous Chondrite Standards for Verification of ESA’S ‘Prospect’ Package (2017-03-20)
Mortimer, James; Anand, Mahesh; Verchovsky, Sasha; Nicoara, Simona; Greenwood, Richard C.; Gibson, Jenny; Franchi, Ian A.; Ahmed, Farah; Strekopytov, Stanislav and Carpenter, James
In : 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (20-24 Mar 2017, The Woodlands, Houston, Texas)

Trapping of Atmospheric Gases During Crushing of Lunar Samples (2017-03-20)
Verchovsky, A. B.; Mortimer, J.; Buikin, A. I. and Anand, M.
In : 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (20-24 Mar 2017, The Woodlands, Houston, Texas)

ProSPA: the Science Laboratory for the Processing and Analysis of Lunar Polar Volatiles within PROSPECT (2017-03-20)
Barber, S. J.; Smith, P. H.; Wright, I. P.; Abernethy, F.; Anand, M.; Dewar, K. R.; Hodges, M.; Landsberg, P.; Leese, M. R.; Morgan, G. H.; Morse, A. D.; Mortimer, J.; Sargeant, Hannah; Sheard, I.; Sheridan, S.; Verchovsky, A.; Goesmann, S.; Howe, C.; Morse, T.; Lillywhite, N.; Quinn, A.; Missaglia, N.; Pedrali, M.; Reiss, P.; Rizzi, F.; Rusconi, A.; Savoia, M.; Zamboni, A.; Merrifield, J. A.; Gibson Jr., E. K.; Carpenter, J.; Fisackerly, R. and Houdou, B.
In : 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (20-24 Mar 2017, The Woodlands, Houston, Texas)

Investigating the distribution and source(s) of volatiles on the lunar surface (2013-05-22)
Mortimer, J. I.; Anand, M.; Gilmour, I.; Pillinger, C. T. and Verchovsky, S.
In : NLSI Workshop Without Walls: Lunar Volatiles 1 (21-23 May 2013, Online)

Using stable isotope geochemistry to investigate the source(s) of volatiles in the lunar regolith (2013-03-14)
Mortimer, James; Anand, Mahesh; Gilmour, Iain; Pillinger, Colin; Sheridan, Simon and Morse, Andrew
In : Geochemistry Group RiP meeting 2013 (14 Mar 2013, Milton Keynes, UK)

Investigating the Distribution and Source(s) of Lunar Volatiles (2016-02-20)
Mortimer, James Ian
PhD thesis The Open University