The main aim and objective of the COST Action NanoSpace (“Carbon molecular nanostructures in space”; CA21126) is to advance the fundamental understanding of the physics and chemistry of cosmic carbon nanomaterials (nanocarbons; nC) and their relevance in non-terrestrial environments by promoting the interdisciplinary combination of state-of-the-art astronomical, laboratory, and theoretical studies, among others.
General Action Scope
The main scientific challenges are the following:
- What nanocarbon species are present in space and how can we identify them?
- What are the chemical pathways that lead to their formation and destruction?
- What is the role of nanocarbon species in non-terrestrial environments? This is in cosmic and in prebiotic chemistry (astrobiology) and in astrophysics.
In order to attack the scientific challenge, NanoSpace proposes an interdisciplinary approach, combining the expertise from a wide range of disciplines like observational astronomy, laboratory astrophysics, astrobiology, theoretical chemistry, synthetic chemistry, molecular reaction dynamics, material science, spectroscopy, graph theory, and data science (AI, big data). The ambitious interdisciplinary nature of NanoSpace has the advantage that nanocarbons have potential applications in nanotechnology. Researchers and innovators from all these fields are thus welcome to participate in the Action as Working Group members, applying here .
NanoSpace takes advantage of the recent successful operation of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the new facilities that can better mimic the interstellar medium (ISM) on the ground as well as the recent developments in the computational facilities and in laboratory techniques.
