M-PIP Project Update 1

An initial meeting was held this month to mark the start of the M-PIP project. Following team member introductions, discussions were held covering the project objectives. Conversations were also had covering the work needing to be carried out to cover the objective goals of both investigating the impact process in ‘permafrost’ target materials, and the identification of mineral materials following shock processes.

The M-PIP project logo depicting Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos along with an asteroid impact.

M-PIP covers three main topics:

• Impact events on the Martain surface.
• The transfer of material from Mars to Phobos.
• Comparisons of cratering processes within differing planetary simulant materials.

Encompassing the three main research objectives of the project.

It is hoped that M-PIP will provide a deeper understanding of the cratering processes occurring within silicate-dominated permafrost materials, as well as strengthening the current understanding of the transport of material between the Martian and Phobosian surfaces’. The final objective within the M-PIP project aims to provide a link between experimental results and planetary observations through the use of computational models.

Read more about the work being undertaken here

Meet the M-PIP team and associate members here