Merve Yesilbas

I am currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the SETI Institute (www.seti.org) in Mountain View (CA, USA). SETI (Search for Extraterrestial Life and Intelligence) Institute is a non-profit research organization collaborates with the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI). I am supported by a Swedish Research Council International Postdoctoral Grant (2018-06694) and the NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellowship, both awarded to me.

My research aims to understand the history of water activity, aqueous processes and geochemical environment on Mars, revealing the potential water resources, and life signatures for future human explorations. Advancing that, my research bridges the laboratory analyses with Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) remote sensing data from Mars.

Current Research Activities:

Reactions at Minerals-Water/Ice Interface

• Develop a fundamental understanding for formation and reactivity of ice, water, cryosalt formation at minerals using low-temperature vibrational spectroscopy.
• Atmospheric gas adsorption at mineral-water and mineral-ice interfaces.

Mars Analog Studies:

• Analysis of low- and high temperature FTIR and thermal gravimetric laboratory data of analogue materials; focusing on iron-bearing phyllosilicates and sulphate minerals, volcanic soils (e.g. Hawaii), and sediments from frozen desert environments (e.g. Antarctic Dry Valleys). 
• Probe 'the transient liquid salty water formation' in martian analogues to develope a fundamental understanding for Mars (sub)surface processes.

Mars Surface Analyses:

• Remote Sensing using CRISM data: Analysis of VNIR spectral analyses to characterize surface minerals; focusing on identifying OH/H2O-bearing minerals (e.g. clays, sulphates) to understand the history of water activity on Mars.