The space beyond Earth’s atmosphere is cold and empty. It is a hostile environment where life on Earth would not be possible without protection. Nevertheless, scientists suspect that the molecules from which life on Earth and DNA are composed originate from space. However, this is not easy to prove because the timescales and physical and chemical conditions in space are completely different from those on Earth. Nevertheless, scientists are trying, bit by bit, to develop a better understanding of these processes. The research described in this thesis examines ice found in space by recreating it in the laboratory. Within the ice, molecules are protected and packed closely together, allowing chemical reactions to occur more readily than elsewhere in space. Furthermore, the ice is almost continuously exposed to energy in the form of infrared radiation. This thesis describes how this leads to a restructuring of the ice, the effect of which should not be underestimated. This restructuring, which has not yet been incorporated into models that predict the composition of space, can significantly influence the outcome of these models and thereby provide new insights into chemical reactions in space.
Dian Schrauwen is a PhD candidate at the FELIX Infrared and THz Spectroscopy department of HFML-FELIX and Radboud University. Dian completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Science at Radboud University, where the considerable freedom of choice in the Science curriculum introduced her to astrophysics and, through her Bachelor’s internship, to astrochemistry. She became fascinated by these fields of research. The highly interdisciplinary nature of astrochemistry was a perfect fit for her broad education, interests and strong interdisciplinary skills. Her PhD research builds on her previous astrochemical research projects, in which she is investigating the formation of molecules observed in space from a different angle. For her work as a researcher, Dian was awarded the Christine Mohrmann scholarship in 2024.