-
-
-
-
-
En
-
Thomas Gautier
+33 1 80285234
CNRS Associate researcher
Planetary Science Department
Dr. Gautier is a planetary scientist and astrobiologist working on the formation and evolution of organic matter in the solar system, either through laboratory experiments or through direct investigation using mass spectrometric measurements from space probes.
He obtained his PhD in 2013 on the Laboratory synthesis and study of both chemical and physical properties of Titan's aerosol analogs. He then worked on the COSAC instrument aboard the Rosetta/Philae mission to study organic molecules on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov – Gerasimenko to better constrain the origin and evolution of the organic matter in the Solar System. He later worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to study the formation and properties of organic aerosol in the atmospheres of Titan and the Early Earth and their impact on planetary atmospheres using laboratory experiment. Thomas Gautier also worked on the organic matter within interstellar ice analogs during his postdoctoral fellowship from CNES, the French Space Agency, in laboratory Physics of the Molecular and Ionic Interactions in Marseille.
Current projects include:
- Titan's aerosols (Co-I) and atmospheric inventory of organic volatiles (PI)
- Pluto's atmospheric chemistry, aerosols formation and surface organics evolution (PI)
- Phobos surface and Mars atmosphere (Co-I of the MIRS instrument aboard the future MMX JAXA mission)
