DR. JOSÉ CARLOS APONTE
ASTROCHEMIST
Dr. José Carlos Aponte is an astrochemist who studies the properties of rocks that come from space! He investigates objects like asteroids, meteorites, and comets.
He creates new ways to analyze the chemical signatures of space objects,with a focus on meteorites. This means he develops new ways to figure out what molecules and compounds are present in the rocks.
You may be surprised to learn the question driving Dr. Aponte’s work is learning about the origins of life on Earth (and maybe elsewhere)! He wants to learn about how different molecules or compounds came together to create life. For this reason he specifically investigates which organic compounds are found in meteorites.
How do you think studying space rocks helps us learn about how life formed on Earth?
Dr. Aponte is originally from Peru. He works in the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and is a collaborator on two missions aimed at obtaining asteroid samples in space. The missions are named Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx.
By the way - “astro-” refers to space and space bodies and chemistry is the study of matter. Since Dr. Aponte studies matter from space he is an astrochemist!
Further Resources
(some links may repeat from above)
Learn about the Hayabusa2 mission to obtain asteroid samples.
Learn about the OSIRIS-REx mission to obtain asteroid samples.