Ural Federal University has started creating a second cryogenic unit that will allow for more detailed studies of interstellar ice in space. The unit will be assembled by the end of this year, Anton Vasyunin, head of the Astrochemical Research Laboratory of UrFU, said at a press conference in the Ural Information Center.
In 2022, the first unit in Russia for spectroscopic analysis of complex compositions resembling interstellar ice was created at Ural Federal University.
We are now assembling a second experimental unit, which will have expanded capabilities compared to the first. If the first is intended only for spectroscopy, then in this one we will be able to study in detail various chemical processes that take place in interstellar ice.
They intend to complete the assembly of the unit by the end of 2025, and begin research in 2026.
As experts explain, the process of assembling the unit is not fast, as it requires not only an understanding of how it should be assembled, but also the availability of qualified employees. Ural Federal University will be the only educational institution in Russia with such equipment.
Scientists intend to study the processes occurring under the influence of various physical factors that play a key role in the birth of stars and planets. These factors include hard ultraviolet radiation emanating from stars and having a significant impact on the formation and destruction of molecules, as well as cosmic rays.
The unit will also include a modified helium cryostat specially designed for the needs of astrochemists at UrFU, the so-called atomic beams that can generate streams of hydrogen and oxygen atoms, as well as turbomolecular pumps.
With the help of this unit, researchers will be able to recreate conditions similar to those in which stars and planets are born in space: radiation, ultraviolet radiation, streams of atoms, low temperature and ultra-low pressure.
The new data will expand our ability to study the formation and evolution of molecules in space and, possibly, bring us closer to answering whether life similar to that on Earth can originate in space.
Ural Federal University has a laboratory that has no analogues in Russia. It conducts unique laboratory experiments on the spectroscopy of supercooled analogues of interstellar ice. The results of these studies are published in leading international scientific journals. Similar laboratories exist in Europe, the USA and Japan.
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