Other aspects of my research focus on the detection and identification of the organic matter remotely observed or analyzed in some solar system objects. In 2017, I joined the scientific team of the Dawn mission. 

The Dawn mission was launched in 2007 to study the two main bodies of the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres, two objects reclassified as protoplanets or dwarf planets (and no more asteroids...). Ceres being the largest body and before the Dawn mission, its composition was unknown.  

After a very successful observation and characterization of Vesta, Dawn approach Ceres and entered in its orbit the 6th of march 2015. I think everyone remember the double white spots observed on Ceres when we were far away ? Everyone thought to something mysterious... The eyes of the planet...

After many observations and characterizations by the different instrument onboard the Dawn spacecraft, Ceres appears to be a very complex water-rich world with no clear correspondence to asteroid fragments (meteorites) on Earth. Its surface was revealed covered by phyllosilicates, carbonates, ammoniated-bearing hydrated minerals, water ice, salts and opaque materials, indicating a complex evolution. The two white spot are actually a fresh excavation of carbonates and salts, in the center of a big crater named Occator. All the chemical characterizations are mainly obtained from the Visible and InfraRed (VIR) mapping spectrometer onboard the Dawn spacecraft. 

This spectral range is particularly suitable for the detection of organic matter, where infrared absorptions from CH, NH, OH and even CO3 can be observed and are not hidden by the 3 µm absorption feature of water inside silicate (OH) and/or ammonium (NH4+ ) Although these aliphatic features are uncommon on asteroid bodies, they are not unique to Ceres, and have also been remotely observed in at least two other bodies, namely 24 Themis and 65 Cybele. Nevertheless, the nature of this OM on Ceres is unknown. 

The exogenous or endogenous sources of this OM in Ceres are still under investigation but I believe it is endogenous for many reasons. More information on the organic matter observed around Ernutet and its relation to the mineral phases can be found in De Sanctis M.C., Vinogradoff V., et al. 2019, MNRAS, 482(2), 2407-2421. The quantity of organic matter observed and its evolution inside Ceres are under investigation by experimental studies. First results on the quantity of organic matter that could have been observed at the surface of Ceres in the special Ernutet region are published (Vinogradoff, V.,et al.. (2021). Minerals, 11(7), 719). We suggest that at least 20 wt% of organic matter are present around the Ernutet crater. Such quantity cannot provide from exogeneous sources and reinforce the necessity to visit again, or sample Ceres surface very soon.