When it was born, the rocky planets were covered by magma oceans and accreted atmospheres. Since then, 4.6 billion years have passed to evolve to the current state. The early atmospheres have been replaced by the secondary atmospheres via degassing and atmospheric escape. Coupled with the atmospheric evolution, the surface environments have evolved by aqueous chemistry, chemical weathering, and sedimentary processes, which feedback to the atmosphere via magmatism and degassing. I am investigating how and when these processes operated and trying to synthesize how these processes have co-worked to shape the present environments we see today.

It was the thorough geological investigations accompanied by the advances in astronomical observations in the past couple of centuries that enabled us to ponder on the geological history of the planets. Understanding the past environments would provide hypotheses on the processes that caused the changes between the past and the present. Thus revealing the processes and investigating the past are the two sides of the same coin. This ultimately leads to answering the questions on the origins of primitive organic molecules, which have evolved to cells, early life, and beyond. My motivation is to find clues in answering the question of the origins, in association with the numerous astronomical surveys and planetary explorations to be conducted in the following decades.

Clay minerals are known to memorize the chemistry of the water that interacted. While NASA's Mars rover, Percy, is equipped with the Raman spectrometer, its potential for distinguishing clay minerals in situ is unknown. I am investigating the potential Raman proxies of clay minerals using an in-house developed time-gated Raman spectrometer, also examining the latest Raman spectra reported by Percy at the same time.

Lines of geochemical evidence suggest Mars sustained an aqueous environment on its surface. A vast amount of atmosphere is required to support liquid water and is thought to have escaped to space. Phobos, a moon of Mars, is now bombarded with the current escaping Martian atmosphere, perhaps having experienced a higher bombardment flux of past escape. I am investigating the effect of heavy atomic bombardment on presumed Phobos minerals through laboratory experiments.