Abigail Allwood in the NASA workshop. In May, the federal government slashed its funding for CSIRO by $111 million over four years. In Queensland that was expected to see 100 CSIRO mathematicians and computer mapping staff lose their jobs. On Monday Fairfax Media revealed Dr Allwood was selected as the principal investigator for NASA’s 2020 Mars Rover expedition. The former Sommerville House and Queensland University of Technology Geoscience student grew up in Rochedale before shifting to Sydney after finishing her honours year at QUT in 2002.

In 2006, Cosmos magazine voted Dr Allwood one of Australia’s top 10 science brains for her doctoral research on Pilbara rock, proving they held the Earth’s oldest forms of life - 3.45 billion years old. Dr Allwood has been working for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for seven years. In her new role she will be responsible for a piece of rock scanning technology that will analyse microscopic grains of rock. The 41-year-old developed the new technology - Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) – which will allow NASA to study rock samples 170 times smaller than previously possible. “Every Mars rover mission to date has used XRF [x-ray fluorescence] that is not “micro” – the spot size is about 1.7 centimetres - which means the chemistry of all the rock components are blended together over that area,” she explained.

“Lots of detail is lost, which often leads to uncertain interpretations. “PIXL spot size is 100 micrometres - 170 times smaller. This means we can analyse the chemistry of individual sand grains, and get far more detailed understanding of rock chemistry. “This means detailed understanding of past conditions and a real chance at finding evidence of past microbial life, if it existed.” The system works by focussing a laser beam with an intricate camera on the rock as one scanning device, she said. “The unique thing about PIXL is that each chemistry measurement is correlated precisely with fine scale visible textures in the rocks, thanks to our inbuilt camera that is co-aligned with the X-ray beam.”

Dr Allwood said the new generation 2020 Mars Rover mission was far superior to previous Mars rovers which had been on the planet since 2004. The 2020 rover will be car-sized, about three metres long, 2.7 metres wide, and 2.2 feet tall. “Many people are fooled because it’s the same rover platform, but when it comes to science it is going to be a very different beast indeed,” she said. “The 2020 rover is like a lean, mean field geologist equipped with state-of-the art instrumentation to do the best possible job of the field investigation, and select samples for return to Earth, where someday in the future we could use the world’s best labs to analyse the samples. “And the lab measurements will benefit significantly from the detailed field work of the 2020 rover.

“With the geologic context provided by the 2020 rover science instruments, we could really have a chance of identifying evidence of life in the returned samples, if life ever existed. “It’s the number one goal of the Mars Program, and we’ve been slowly building up the scientific foundation needed to seriously tackle such a challenging question. “The 2020 rover and sample return are the next steps in that direction.” When she's not gazing at the stars, complex problems such as keeping track of her car keys and her young daughter Sophia keep geologist and astrobiologist grounded. “Since we got selected last week my head has been spinning,” Dr Allwood said.

“I’m having trouble staying focused on the whereabouts of things like my keys and my phone.” Back in 2001 when she finished her first Geoscience degree at Queensland University of Technology, Dr Allwood magined the mining industry would be where she worked. “I thought I would end up in the oil or mining industry and I actually did, very briefly,” she said. “There are almost no other options for Geoscience graduates in Australia. “In that sense I love living in the USA, where the science opportunities are much better.”

She joked when asked if the David Bowie song, Life on Mars, is now heard from within NASA’s Mars Rover 2020 laboratories. “I have no idea, but I’ve definitely heard all kinds of music coming from labs here,” she laughed.