The AIMS project led by Dr. Nozair Khawaja starts at the Freie Universität Berlin's Planetary Sciences and Remote Sensing group! The ERC Consolidator Grant of almost 2 million euros will be used for research of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Over the next five years, Dr. Nozair Khawaja wants to investigate the habitability of Enceladus as part of the research project. This icy moon, which orbits the planet Saturn, is considered one of the most promising places in the outer solar system for the search for extraterrestrial life. With the ERC grant, the scientist and his team will simulate the conditions in the underground ocean of Enceladus in order to investigate its habitability. Researchers hope that this will provide important information for future space missions.

Contact

Dr. Nozair Khawaja, Institute of Geological Sciences, Department of Earth Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Email: nozair.khawaja@fu-berlin.de and Institute of Space Systems, University of Stuttgart, Email: khawajan@irs.uni-stuttgart.de