Joint Meeting

The Mining Institute of Scotland &

The Edinburgh Geological Society

Wednesday, 5 February 2020

'Mineral exploration beyond Earth'

Dr Claire Cousins, University of St Andrews

Wednesday, 5 February 2020: Presentation @ 7:00pm

Hutton Lecture Theatre in the Grant Institute of Geology,

University of Edinburgh, The King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FE.

Tea and biscuits are served following the lecture in the Cockburn Museum of the Grant

Institute.

Please note there will be no video link for this presentation

Contact Mark.Friel@hsgplc.co.uk

by

Picture of Mars ESA ExoMars Rover

Lecture Outline Mineral exploration beyond Earth will go through a 'tour' of extra-terrestrial mineralogy, most of which

we know about through reflectance spectroscopy - technique that is used quite widely in the mining

industry. The talk will mostly focus on Mars, but also icy bodies in the outer solar system. There are

also quite a few parallels between mineral exploration on Earth (for mining) and mineral exploration in

space (for discovery-driven science), e.g. challenging terrains, the need for miniaturised technology,

technology that can operate in temperature extremes/dusty environments, etc.

About The Presenter

Claire Cousins studied at Cardiff University and then University College London, moving to the

University of St Andrews in 2015 while undertaking a Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Fellowship and is now Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences at the School of Earth Sciences & Environmental Sciences. She uses planetary analogues and experimental research to develop the science and technology related to current and future robotic space missions within our Solar System. Claire was part of the PanCam instrument team for the European Space Agency (ESA) ExoMars Rover, and also investigates how UV fluorescence imaging systems that can be used to detect mineral deposits and biosignatures. In 2018, she was elected a Member of the RSE Young Academy of Scotland.

Directions to the Grant Institute The Grant Institute is located just off West Mains Road, in the University of Edinburgh's King's Buildings

Campus. The building is circled in red on each of the maps below. Lothian bus services 24, 38, 41, 42

and 67

stop

nearby.

You

can

park

in

front

of

the

Grant

Institute

-

in

the

evening,

parking

is free

and

available for

visitors.

Enter

by

the

front

door

and

once

in

the

foyer,

take

the

left

hand

corridor.

Follow

it

until

it

takes

you

down

a

set

of

steps,

into

the

Hutton

Lecture

Theatre

- marked

by

a

red

dot

on

the

second

map

below.