LPL Newsletter for January 2023

Sunday, January 1, 2023

Happy New Year!

LPL is looking forward to an exciting 2023, with the return of the OSIRIS-REx sample in September followed a few weeks later by the official ‘launch’ of the extended mission, OSIRIS-APEX. We’ll be sharing info later this year on the timeline and events planned around sample return.

We had two pieces of good news to wrap up 2022: the publication of an exciting paper by Postdoctoral Research Associate Adrien Broquet and Associate Professor Jeff Andrews-Hanna about an active mantle plume on Mars and the official go ahead given by NASA for NEO Surveyor, led by Professor Amy Mainzer.

Mark S. Marley

Director and Department Head

$Image taken by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter shows an oblique view focusing on one of the fractures making up the Cerberus Fossae system. The fractures cut through hills and craters, indicating their relative youth.ESA/DLR/FU Berlin$

Giant Mantle Plume Reveals Mars is More Active than Previously Thought

Research by Adrien Broquet and Jeff Andrews-Hanna describes how orbital observations have unveiled the presence of an enormous mantle plume pushing the surface of Mars upward and driving intense volcanic and seismic activity.

Illustration of NASA’s NEO Surveyor seen against an infrared observation of a starfield made by the WISE mission.

Construction Begins on NASA's Next-Generation Asteroid Hunter

Professor Amy Mainzer is principal investigator of NEO Surveyor, the first purpose-built space telescope that will advance NASA’s planetary defense efforts by finding and tracking hazardous near-Earth objects.

More News