Focus on Alumni

Ice Frozen Under Mars’ Surface Offers Major Resource to Aid Future Settlements

March 1, 2021

Dr. Ali Bramson examines factors involving future habitats on Mars. Bramson is co-author on a Nature Astronomy (Feb. 2021) paper about subsurface ice on the red planet.

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The Diaries of Space Explorers - Dr. Cecilia Leung

Feb. 15, 2021

LPL alumna Dr. Cecilia Leung is a planetary scientist specializing in the present-day water cycle on Mars. Her research combines the use of 3D numerical atmospheric models and spacecraft observations to study seasonal changes in the Martian weather and climate. Her work also supports the Entry-Descent-and-Landing (EDL) of recent Mars Missions such as the InSight Mars Lander and the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover.

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The Diaries of Space Explorers - Dr. Ali Bramson

Feb. 15, 2021

Dr. Ali Bramson's research uses NASA spacecraft mission data to learn about the geology of other planets in our Solar System, and her work on Martian ice is helping to shape the future of human exploration of Mars.

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Researcher Spotlight: Devin Schrader

Jan. 1, 2021

Dr. Devin Schrader studies primitive meteorites that have remained relatively unaltered since they formed in the early Solar System ~4.5 billion years ago. He also works on samples returned from asteroids, including those returned from asteroid Itokawa by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), and is a collaborator on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission.

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Jupiter's Moons Could be Warming Each Other

Sept. 10, 2020

LPL alumnus Hamish Hay is lead author of a study that found that moon-moon interactions may be more responsible for the heating than Jupiter alone.

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The four largest moons of Jupiter in order of distance from Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto

Postdoc Success Stories: Drs. Ali Bramson and Michael Sori will be Assistant Professors at Purdue University!

Aug. 17, 2020

Dr. Michael Sori (Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Dr. Ali Bramson (Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona) are Postdoctoral Scholars in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Arizona. Both have recently accepted positions as Assistant Professors in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) at Purdue University.

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Dr. Michael Sori and Ali Bramson, Postdoctoral Scholars in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the

A View From Earth - Dr. Margaret Landis

July 30, 2020

LPL alumna Dr. Margaret Landis is a post-doc at CU Boulder specializing in geology and icy bodies all over the Solar System. She has worked with spacecraft such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Dawn spacecraft that visited the dwarf planet Ceres, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at the moon. Her current work looking at the chemistry of ices on the moon could be essential in determining what sort of water reservoirs our future human explorers could access for drinking, farming, and fuel.

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Octocopter Set to Explore Titan, Saturn's Very Cool Moon

June 30, 2020

NASA is on a mission to explore Titan — the largest moon of Saturn. To do that, scientists are building a nuclear-powered, self-driving drone (technically an octocopter) called Dragonfly, led by Principal Investigator and LPL alumna Dr. Elizabeth Turtle. Scheduled to launch in 2026 and arrive on Titan in 2034, Dragonfly could provide clues about how the building blocks of life started here on Earth.

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This illustration shows NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft-lander approaching a site on Saturn's exotic moo

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Discovers Sunlight Can Crack Rocks on Asteroid Bennu

June 9, 2020

Dr. Jamie Molaro is lead author on a paper documenting the first evidence for thermal fracturing on an object without an atmosphere. " The phenomenon, observed by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on asteroid Bennu, and evidence of thermal fracturing on the asteroid can help scientists learn about the geologic history not only on Bennu, but on other planetary surfaces as well.

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