Chaitanya Giri

Chaitanya Giri (Marathi: चैतन्य गिरी) (b. 1988 in Nanded, India) is an Indian exploration scientist and geostrategist. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany and at University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in France. He is also an external independent analyst at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations based in Mumbai, India.

Chaitanya holds a Master's degree in Biological Physics from University of Mumbai and Bachelor´s degree in Chemistry from Ramnarain Ruia College of University of Mumbai.

Exploration Research
Chaitanya is based at the MPS to pursue studies on Cometary Sampling and Composition Experiment (COSAC). COSAC is a scientific instrument present on the Philae Lander of the ESA Rosetta mission.

COSAC is a GC-MS instrumental suite built at the MPS to explore the organic composition of comet 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko. Rosetta will rendezvous the comet in November 2014 giving COSAC the opportunity to search for prebiotic molecules, hydrocarbons and other complex organic molecules on the surface of comet´s nucleus.

Chaitanya´s doctoral adviser is Uwe Meierhenrich. Uwe is well known for his research on extra-terrestrial amino acids. His laboratory simulations - irradiation of interstellar ice - yielded sixteen amino acids. COSAC has the ability to find amino acids on the nucleus of comet 67P and determine their innate chirality. Chirality is considered as a primary signature of life and hence any determined chirality on the cometary nucleus can be a clue to origin of life on Earth.

Chaitanya is also associated with the hydro-geological studies of Lonar Crater lake - a 0.65 Ma crater present in basaltic rock of Deccan Plateau in India. These studies have numerous applications, the prominent being the knowledge of ancient hydrology on the surface of Mars.

Geo and Exostrategic Research
Chaitanya´s other research interests are geo and exo strategies. His first strategy article Gaining from space highlights the strength and lacunae of India´s current space exploration program.

Select Articles
1. Evans, A.; Meinert, C.; Giri, C.; Goesmann, F.; and Meierhenrich U.J. Chirality, photochemistry and detection of amino acids in interstellar ice analogues and comets. Chem. Soc. Revs (2012). DOI: 10.1039/c2cs35051c.

2. Giri, C.; Goesmann, F.; Meinert C.; Evans A.C.; Meierhenrich, U.J. Synthesis and Chirality of Amino Acids under Interstellar Conditions. In Topics in Current Chemistry; Cintas, P., Ed.; Springer, Berlin (2012). DOI: 10.1007/128_2012_367

3. Giri, C. Gaining from space. Gateway House - Indian Council on Foreign Relations, Mumbai, India. September 28, 2012.

4. Giri, C. India can no longer afford to live in a space time warp. www.rediff.com. October 4, 2012.