Space is filled with cold, dark clouds of gas and tiny dust grains. These dust grains are completely covered in thick layers of ice. Scientists believe that this ice holds the basic chemical building blocks of life. When new stars are born inside these dark clouds, the process is very violent. The new stars create powerful, fast moving shock waves that slam into the surrounding gas and dust.

When these shock waves hit the icy dust grains, the impact is huge. The crash heats up the ice and blasts it off the dust grains, turning it straight into gas. This sudden change starts rapid and extreme chemical reactions that would not happen otherwise. My research project uses advanced computer simulations to study exactly how this violent process works.

In the past, many computer models left out important details, like non diffusion chemistry and the effects of intense radiation. My project improves on this past work. By running simulations at many different shock wave speeds, I track how new, complex chemicals form over time. I run the tests both with and without these specific chemical and radiation processes, and then I compare the results to see what changes.

Ultimately, this research helps us clearly understand how complex organic molecules, the very things needed for life, can form and survive in the extremely harsh and freezing environment of deep space.