Current Grants

Principal Investigator:

Application of Machine Learning to Giant Impact Studies of Planet Formation 
Program name: NASA Planetary Science Division
Performance period: 04/15/19 – 04/14/22

Co-Investigator:

Psyche: Journey to a Metal World
PI: Prof. Linda Elkins-Tanton (ASU)
Program name: NASA Discovery Program, Science Mission Directorate 
Performance period: 02/15/17 – 09/15/2027

Co-PI: 

A STEM Education Program Encompassing Near-Earth Asteroid Science, Technology, and Exploration
PI: Prof. Jekan Thangavelautham (UA)
NASA Office of STEM Engagement
Performance period: 6/1/2019 - 5/31/2022

Current Spacecraft Involvement

• Co-Investigator, Psyche
• Science Investigation Team, MMX, Hera, DART

Former Spacecraft Involvement

• Co-I, Lunar Cratering Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), NASA Ames (2006-2010; PI: T. Colaprete)
• Associate, Galileo Solid State Imaging Science Team (1996-2003; PI: M. Belton)

Current Graduate Students

Current Postdocs

• Adeene Denton

Former Postdocs

• Stephen Schwartz (2017-2021)
• Alexandre Emsenhuber (2017-2019)
• Alan Jackson (2013-2016)
• Desiree Cotto-Figueroa (2013-2015)
• Andreas Reufer (2013, 2014)
• Naor Movshovitz (2013)
• Shangfei Liu (2013-2015)
• Martin Jutzi (2009-2011)
• Lindsey Chambers (2008-2011)
• Misha Kreslavsky (2006-2012)
• Don Korycansky (2000-2002)
• Craig Agnor (2002-2004)

Based on Google Scholar and NASA ADS: NASA ADS Author search: Erik Asphaug

Recent refereed publications (NASA ADS): Years 2019 through June 2023

Cheng, Bin, Asphaug, Erik, Yu, Yang, & Baoyin, Hexi 2023, Astrodynamics. Measuring the mechanical properties of small body regolith layers using a granular penetrometer

Cheng, Bin, Asphaug, Erik, Ballouz, Ronald-Louis, Yu, Yang, & Baoyin, Hexi 2022, The Planetary Science Journal. Numerical Simulations of Drainage Grooves in Response to Extensional Fracturing: Testing the Phobos Groove Formation Model

Leonard D. Vance, Jekan Thangavelautham, Erik Asphaug, Desireé Cotto-Figueroa 2022, Icarus. Possible particle ejection contributions to the shape and spin stability of small near-Earth asteroids

Saverio Cambioni, Erik Asphaug, Roberto Furfaro 2022, Elsevier. Combining machine-learned regression models with Bayesian inference to interpret remote sensing data

Marchi, S., Asphaug, E., Bell, J. F., Bottke, W. F., Jaumann, R., Park, R. S., Polanskey, C. A., Prettyman, T. H., Williams, D. A., Binzel, R., Oran, R., Weiss, B., & Russell, C. T. 2022, Space Science Reviews. Correction to: Determining the Relative Cratering Ages of Regions of Psyche's Surface

Marchi, S., Asphaug, E., Bell, J. F., Bottke, W. F., Jaumann, R., Park, R. S., Polanskey, C. A., Prettyman, T. H., Williams, D. A., Binzel, R., Oran, R., Weiss, B., & Russell, C. T. 2022, Space Science Reviews. Determining the Relative Cratering Ages of Regions of Psyche's Surface

Elkins-Tanton, Linda T., Asphaug, Erik, Bell, James F., Bierson, Carver J., Bills, Bruce G., Bottke, William F., Courville, Samuel W., Dibb, Steven D., Jun, Insoo, Lawrence, David J., Marchi, Simone, McCoy, Timothy J., Merayo, Jose M. G., Oran, Rona, O'Rourke, Joseph G., Park, Ryan S., Peplowski, Patrick N., Prettyman, Thomas H., Raymond, Carol A., Weiss, Benjamin P., Wieczorek, Mark A., & Zuber, Maria T. 2022, Space Science Reviews. Distinguishing the Origin of Asteroid (16) Psyche

Nakajima, Miki, Genda, Hidenori, Asphaug, Erik, & Ida, Shigeru 2022, Nature Communications. Large planets may not form fractionally large moons

Rozehnal, J., Brož, M., Nesvorný, D., Walsh, K. J., Durda, D. D., Richardson, D. C., & Asphaug, E. 2022, Icarus. SPH simulations of high-speed collisions between asteroids and comets

Rabbi, M. F., Garvie, L. A. J., Cotto-Figueroa, D., Asphaug, E., Khafagy, K. H., Datta, S., & Chattopadhyay, A. 2021, Meteoritics and Planetary Science. Understanding asteroidal failure through quasi-static compression testing and 3-D digital image correlation of the Aba Panu (L3) chondrite

Vance, L. D., Thangavelautham, J., Asphaug, E., Cotto-Figueroa, D. 2022, Icarus Possible particle ejection contributions to the shape and spin stability of small near-Earth asteroids

Miyamoto, Hideaki, Niihara, Takafumi, Wada, Koji, Ogawa, Kazunori, Senshu, Hiroki, Michel, Patrick, Kikuchi, Hiroshi, Hemmi, Ryodo, Nakamura, Tomoki, Nakamura, Akiko M., Hirata, Naoyuki, Sasaki, Sho, Asphaug, Erik, Britt, Daniel T., Abell, Paul A., Ballouz, Ronald-Louis, Banouin, Olivier S., Baresi, Nicola, Barucci, Maria A., Biele, Jens, Grott, Matthias, Hino, Hideitsu, Hong, Peng K., Imada, Takane, Kameda, Shingo, Kobayashi, Makito, Libourel, Guy, Mogi, Katsuro, Murdoch, Naomi, Nishio, Yuki, Okamoto, Shogo, Ota, Yuichiro, Otsuki, Masatsugu, Otto, Katharina A., Sakatani, Naoya, Shimizu, Yuta, Takemura, Tomohiro, Terada, Naoki, Tsukamoto, Masafumi, Usui, Tomohiro, & Willner, Konrad 2021, Earth, Planets and Space. Surface environment of Phobos and Phobos simulant UTPS

Emsenhuber, Alexandre, Mordasini, Christoph, Burn, Remo, Alibert, Yann, Benz, Willy, & Asphaug, Erik 2021, Astronomy and Astrophysics. The New Generation Planetary Population Synthesis (NGPPS). II. Planetary population of solar-like stars and overview of statistical results

Emsenhuber, Alexandre, Mordasini, Christoph, Burn, Remo, Alibert, Yann, Benz, Willy, & Asphaug, Erik 2021, Astronomy and Astrophysics. The New Generation Planetary Population Synthesis (NGPPS). I. Bern global model of planet formation and evolution, model tests, and emerging planetary systems

Asphaug, Erik, Emsenhuber, Alexandre, Cambioni, Saverio, Gabriel, Travis S. J., & Schwartz, Stephen R. 2021, The Planetary Science Journal. Collision Chains among the Terrestrial Planets. III. Formation of the Moon

Emsenhuber, Alexandre, Asphaug, Erik, Cambioni, Saverio, Gabriel, Travis S. J., & Schwartz, Stephen R. 2021, The Planetary Science Journal. Collision Chains among the Terrestrial Planets. II. An Asymmetry between Earth and Venus

Cambioni, S., Delbo, M., Poggiali, G., Avdellidou, C., Ryan, A. J., Deshapriya, J. D. P., Asphaug, E., Ballouz, R. -L., Barucci, M. A., Bennett, C. A., Bottke, W. F., Brucato, J. R., Burke, K. N., Cloutis, E., DellaGiustina, D. N., Emery, J. P., Rozitis, B., Walsh, K. J., & Lauretta, D. S. 2021, Nature. Fine-regolith production on asteroids controlled by rock porosity

Cambioni, Saverio, Jacobson, Seth A., Emsenhuber, Alexandre, Asphaug, Erik, Rubie, David C., Gabriel, Travis S. J., Schwartz, Stephen R., & Furfaro, Roberto 2021, The Planetary Science Journal. The Effect of Inefficient Accretion on Planetary Differentiation

Cambioni, S., Jacobson, S. A., Emsenhuber, A., Asphaug, E., Rubie, D. C., Gabriel, T. S. J., Schwartz, S. R., Furfaro, R. 2021, The Planetary Science Journal The Effect of Inefficient Accretion on Planetary Differentiation

McKinnon, William B. and Asphaug, Erik 2020, Nature Astronomy. H. J. Melosh

R. T. Nallapu, S. R. Schwartz, E. Asphaug and J. Thangavelautham, "Robust Spin Control Design for the AOSAT+ Mission Concept," in IEEE Journal on Miniaturization for Air and Space Systems, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 10-31, June 2020, doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2020.2974615.

Ballouz, R. -L., Walsh, K. J., Barnouin, O. S., DellaGiustina, D. N., Asad, M. Al, Jawin, E. R., Daly, M. G., Bottke, W. F., Michel, P., Avdellidou, C., Delbo, M., Daly, R. T., Asphaug, E., Bennett, C. A., Bierhaus, E. B., Connolly, H. C., Golish, D. R., Molaro, J. L., Nolan, M. C., Pajola, M., Rizk, B., Schwartz, S. R., Trang, D., Wolner, C. W. V., & Lauretta, D. S. 2020, Nature. Bennu's near-Earth lifetime of 1.75 million years inferred from craters on its boulders

Asphaug, Erik 2020, Nature. Eye of a skull reveals details of cometary materials

Cheng, Bin, Yu, Yang, Asphaug, Erik, Michel, Patrick, Richardson, Derek C., Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Yoshikawa, Makoto, & Baoyin, Hexi 2020, Nature Astronomy. Reconstructing the formation history of top-shaped asteroids from the surface boulder distribution

Barnouin, O. S., et al. 2020, Nature Geoscience. Author Correction: Shape of (101955) Bennu indicative of a rubble pile with internal stiffness

Asphaug, Erik 2020, Nature Communications. Interiors of small bodies and moons

Elkins-Tanton, L. T., Asphaug, E., Bell, J. F., Bercovici, H., Bills, B., Binzel, R., Bottke, W. F., Dibb, S., Lawrence, D. J., Marchi, S., McCoy, T. J., Oran, R., Park, R. S., Peplowski, P. N., Polanskey, C. A., Prettyman, T. H., Russell, C. T., Schaefer, L., Weiss, B. P., Wieczorek, M. A., Williams, D. A., & Zuber, M. T. 2020, Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets). Observations, Meteorites, and Models: A Preflight Assessment of the Composition and Formation of (16) Psyche

Gabriel, Travis S. J., Jackson, Alan P., Asphaug, Erik, Reufer, Andreas, Jutzi, Martin, & Benz, Willy 2020, The Astrophysical Journal. Gravity-dominated Collisions: A Model for the Largest Remnant Masses with Treatment for "Hit and Run" and Density Stratification

Emsenhuber, Alexandre, Cambioni, Saverio, Asphaug, Erik, Gabriel, Travis S. J., Schwartz, Stephen R., & Furfaro, Roberto 2020, The Astrophysical Journal. Realistic On-the-fly Outcomes of Planetary Collisions. II. Bringing Machine Learning to N-body Simulations

Marsset, Michaël, et al. 2020, Nature Astronomy. The violent collisional history of aqueously evolved (2) Pallas

Wright, Esteban, Quillen, Alice C., South, Juliana, Nelson, Randal C., Sánchez, Paul, Martini, Larkin, Schwartz, Stephen R., Nakajima, Miki, & Asphaug, Erik 2020, Icarus. Boulder stranding in ejecta launched by an impact generated seismic pulse

Marchi, S., Durda, D. D., Polanskey, C. A., Asphaug, E., Bottke, W. F., Elkins-Tanton, L. T., Garvie, L. A. J., Ray, S., Chocron, S., & Williams, D. A. 2020, Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets). Hypervelocity Impact Experiments in Iron-Nickel Ingots and Iron Meteorites: Implications for the NASA Psyche Mission

Asphaug, Erik 2020, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. Book Review: Evolving Theories on the Origin of the Moon

Emsenhuber, Alexandre & Asphaug, Erik 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. Graze-and-merge Collisions under External Perturbers

Sava, Paul & Asphaug, Erik 2019, Advances in Space Research. Seismology on small planetary bodies by orbital laser Doppler vibrometry

Cambioni, Saverio, Delbo, Marco, Ryan, Andrew J., Furfaro, Roberto, & Asphaug, Erik 2019, Icarus. Constraining the thermal properties of planetary surfaces using machine learning: Application to airless bodies

Emsenhuber, Alexandre & Asphaug, Erik 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. Fate of the Runner in Hit-and-run Collisions

Cambioni, Saverio, Asphaug, Erik, Emsenhuber, Alexandre, Gabriel, Travis S. J., Furfaro, Roberto, & Schwartz, Stephen R. 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. Realistic On-the-fly Outcomes of Planetary Collisions: Machine Learning Applied to Simulations of Giant Impacts

Barnouin, O. S., et al., & OSIRIS-REx Team, 2019, Nature Geoscience. Shape of (101955) Bennu indicative of a rubble pile with internal stiffness

Walsh, K. J., et al., & OSIRIS-REx Team, 2019, Nature Geoscience. Craters, boulders and regolith of (101955) Bennu indicative of an old and dynamic surface

Dellagiustina, D. N., et al., & OSIRIS-REx Team, 2019, Nature Astronomy. Properties of rubble-pile asteroid (101955) Bennu from OSIRIS-REx imaging and thermal analysis

• When The Earth Had Two Moons (365pp., HarperCollins 2019)

• It Takes a Special Kind of Planet to Make a Moon - February 1, 2022
• Earth and Venus Grew up as Rambunctious Planets - September 23, 2021
• ‘When the Earth Had Two Moons’ Review: A Smashing Solar System - January 3, 2020
• $3M in NASA Funding to Help Students Build CubeSats - July 17, 2019
• Moon Maps, Lunar Origins and Everything Between - June 12, 2019

View LPL Evening Lecture from November 7, 2018, Impact Origin of the Moon?