Romain Tartese

I am a Senior Research Fellow at The University of Manchester, motivated in developing in situ isotopic analytical techniques to address key questions about the volatile history of planetary bodies in the Solar System. Whether life may have flourished elsewhere in the Solar System is intimately tied with the presence of liquid water. I aim to develop a better understanding of the origin of water in the Solar System, of how and when it was delivered to rocky planets, and of the processes controlling interactions between planetary interiors, surfaces and atmospheres.

My scientific expertise falls in the fields of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial petrology and geochemistry. More specifically, I use in situ microbeam techniques to investigate various planetary science questions such as the volatile inventory and isotopic composition of small planetary body interiors (Moon, Vesta), the oxygen isotope systematics of the earliest traces of terrestrial life, or the differentiation of the terrestrial continental crust.