Department News

by Shane Byrne

As rovers crawl across the surface of Mars, they can investigate small-scale structures in sedimentary rock that can’t be seen from orbital datasets. These structures can tell us a lot about the environment within which the rocks were deposited. Terrestrial geologists have been interpreting these features for a long time, but it is a relatively new tool in planetary science. On this trip we journeyed to southern New Mexico where we saw examples of deposits from volcanic base surges and aeolian material that contain some of these sedimentary structures.

Our first stop for this LPL field trip was Kilbourne hole and the neighboring Aden lava flow (a good example of an inflated flow with polygonal fractures). Kilbourne hole is a Maar crater i.e., where subterranean magma encounters ground water and generates repeated explosions. These explosions throw out debris and generate base surges that can mobilize these particles into cross-bedded patterns. Later erosion at Kilbourne Hole allows us to see cross-sections of this stratigraphy and occasional volcanic bombs that are embedded within it. Kilbourne Hole is also famous for its mantle xenoliths—chunks of almost pure olivine carried to the surface from great depth. They are hard to find these days as the site was been thoroughly picked over by geo-tourists, but we were lucky enough to discover a large one (~40 pounds). It is also well known for its large rattlesnake population, which we fortunately failed to discover.

After leaving Kilbourne Hole, we traveled to the White Sands dune field. Cross-bedding in the making can be observed here as gypsum sand avalanches down dune slipfaces. White Sands has many types of dunes (from parabolic to barchan) and a wide range of dune migration rates, which can be clearly measured in orbital imagery and airborne LIDAR datasets (dune migration rates can now also be routinely measured on Mars through HiRISE orbital imagery). We hiked out to Alkali Flats to see the source of the dunefield—gypsum crystalizes on the surface of a playa here before blowing eastward towards the dunes. One non-geologic highlight of the trip was the permission to camp overnight within the park. Incredibly dark skies even allowed for views of the zodiacal light and the white dunes illuminated by starlight gave this terrestrial analog an unearthly quality.

Catherine Elder at White Sands National Monument (courtesy Margaret Landis)	White Sands (courtesy Catherine Elder)
	Up the rim of Kilbourne Hole (courtesy Melissa Dykhuis)

by Sarah Morrison

Spring is a busy time for outreach! LPL students, faculty, staff, and volunteers have reached well over 5,000 people this spring semester alone—ranging from introducing preschoolers to “space rocks” to giving popular monthly lectures at Borderlands Brewery as part of our Space Drafts Public Talk Series, a collaboration with Steward Observatory and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO).

LPL graduate students Ali Bramson and Donna Viola (shown) talk about "Crazy Craters!!! Windows into Martian Ice" as part of our Space Drafts Public Talk Series at Borderlands Brewery on February 11, 2015.

Other highlights for the semester included LPL participation in two events held in Phoenix: Saturday, January 31, at the Connect2STEM event on UA’s Biomedical Campus, and February 1 at the pre-Super Bowl XLIX festivities. LPL students and staff were there to showcase the department's broad research strengths and 500 football and science fans alike enjoyed learning about the OSIRIS-REx mission as well as how we discover and characterize exoplanets.

LPL graduate student Sarah Morrison and OSIRIS-REx Ambassador/LPL staff Jonna Zucarelli show off the OSIRIS-REx mission and how we use spectroscopy to figure out the composition of objects in our Solar System and beyond at Connect2STEM on January 31, 2015.

LPL activity tables at the Tucson Festival of Books (TFoB) were huge hits this year. The department had a strong presence at TFoB's Science City, with participation from OSIRIS-REx (led by Dolores Hill), Teaching Teams (led by Dr. Steve Kortenkamp), and LPL graduate students (led by Sarah Morrison), along with LPL’s Maria Schuchardt as Science City’s Science of Tomorrow tent manager. The graduate students themselves talked directly with over 530 people about our Solar System and beyond!

LPL graduate student Donna Viola wows a family at the Tucson Festival of Books with a comparison of our terrestrial planets on March 14, 2015.

The LPL Speaker Request form has increased our visibility to the community and allowed us to reach a more diverse audience ranging from preschool children to retirees. Keep those requests coming!

We have many more events on the way, so stay tuned!

LPL has a long history and much experience with tracking space rocks. From astronomical surveys such as SPACEWATCH® and the Catalina Sky Survey to the Meteorite Lab to the OSIRIS-REx sample return mission, LPL knows asteroids and meteorites. Now, thanks to a generous gift from an anonymous donor, even more expert eyes will be trained on the sky over southern Arizona. A new collaboration between LPL, the Curtin University of Perth, Australia, and the Vatican Observatory will deploy a network of all-sky cameras throughout southern Arizona. Operating every night, the cameras will monitor the sky for incoming fireballs and help recover any meteorite dropping events in the area.

Phil Bland of the Curtin University operates the Desert Fireball Network which has been successful in the recovery of two observed meteorite falls, the Bunburra Rockhole eucrite in 2007, and an unpublished 2010 event in the Nullarbor Plains of Australia. The network consists of a number of semi-autonomous systems utilizing commercial DSLR cameras. Bland has agreed to provide 4 to 5 cameras for the Tucson area. The anonymous donation to LPL will allow the lab to match Bland’s contribution and build an additional 4 to 5 cameras.The first system will be shipped to Tucson next month for testing, with the remainder delivered throughout the year. Carl Hergenrother of LPL and Jean-Baptiste Kikwaya of the Vatican Observatory will operate the network with Bland.

With its clear skies and desert terrain, southern Arizona is a productive region for meteorite fall detection and recovery. The placement of the network across the region allows fireballs to be observed from multiple locations. By “triangulating” the path of a fireball from different locales, its atmospheric trajectory can be determined resulting in a better prediction of any fall sites and the object’s pre-atmospheric orbit around the Sun.

The new network will complement a group of three existing southern Arizona all-sky fireball cameras set up last fall on Mount Lemmon, Mount Hopkins, and Kitt Peak as a collaboration between NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, LPL, Vatican Observatory, Steward Observatory, MMT Observatory and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory.

Xi Zhang joined LPL in January 2013, working as a Bisgrove post-doctoral scholar on planetary atmospheres with Dr. Adam Showman. His research focuses on developing a fundamental understanding of the planetary climate system from observational, theoretical and modeling work. He has been involved in several projects on Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, Neptune, extra-solar planets, brown dwarfs, as well as Earth. Xi’s work covers topics on atmospheric science, including fluid dynamics, spectroscopy, chemistry, cloud microphysics, and radiative transfer.

Xi is from Sichuan, China. He studied at Peking University, where he earned a B.S. in Space Physics (2007). Xi earned his Ph.D. in 2012 from California Institute of Technology with a thesis on aerosol and chemistry on planetary atmospheres in the solar system. Xi enjoys reading, swimming, and outdoor activities.

Ed Audi is a Staff Engineer with the Cassini VIMS team. His career at LPL began in 2013, but his journey to Tucson started in 1997, when he decided to leave the cold weather of his native Vermont and head west. After working in the telecommunication industry for a time, Ed made his way to Tucson in 2001 to work at the University of Arizona (UA) as a telescope operator at the old 12-meter radio telescope on Kitt Peak. In 2003, he migrated to a position with Pegasus Solutions, a Scottsdale software company, and then to graduate school at the University of Tulsa. But, he says, "I didn't want to leave Arizona and I always knew I'd come back!"

His journey back to Tucson would take nearly six years, during which he worked for the federal government in software development and network operations roles. "Eventually," says Ed, "I'd had enough of the East coast and decided to find my way back out west." He was hired by Tucson's Universal Avionics to maintain and enhance aircraft navigational database software. While this was a good opportunity and he was excited to be back in Arizona, Ed always had an interest in working in the space industry and so continued to look for openings at UA. We're glad that Ed eventually found a home at UA and LPL: "VIMS is a spectrometer, and I work with JPL to ensure that the instrument collects the data that our scientists require. It's a good role for me because it allows me to work with a spacecraft and also make use of my IT and software development experience."

Annie Wargetz joined the LPL family in January 2015 as the new Social Media Lead for the OSIRIS-REx mission. She is a member of the Communications and Public Engagement team and manages the social media presence for the mission. Annie is excited to be interacting with the OSIRIS-REx team and helping to tell the mission’s story. Prior to arriving in Tucson, Annie was a member of the Communications team for the Orion Program based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and designed to serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. She worked with program management, scientists, and engineers to learn about the spacecraft and its EFT-1 (Exploration Flight Test-1) mission, an uncrewed test flight that took place on December 5, 2014, sending Orion through the Van Allen belt twice, where it experienced high periods of radiation, reaching an altitude of 3,600 miles above Earth at speeds of 20,000 mph and weathering temperatures approaching 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it entered Earth’s atmosphere. Annie turned the knowledge into communications products, including lithographs, and interacted with the public at various events to get them excited about the spacecraft. Annie says she is honored to be a part of LPL and OSIRIS-REx mission.

Federico Fraschetti is an Associate Staff Scientist at LPL and Guest Lecturer/Faculty Affiliate Member of the Theoretical Astrophysics Program at the University of Arizona. He joined the department in 2009. His research interests are in the origin of cosmic-rays, the particle acceleration/transport and the turbulence generation at shocks emitted in multi-scale explosive phenomena, as well as coronal mass ejections from the Sun, supernovae, and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).

He earned his B.S. and M.S. (2001) in Italy at the University of Rome La Sapienza and his Ph.D. (2004) at the University of Rome La Sapienza/University of Trento. Federico's doctoral research was on the modeling of ultra-relativistic shocks of GRBs, the most powerful explosions in the Universe. For this work, he was awarded the Tacchini prize by SAIt (Italian Society for Astronomy).

Prior to joining LPL, Federico held a postdoctoral appointment at Brera Astronomical Observatory (Italy) with the Swift mission for GRBs, before moving on to work as a Postdoctoral Fellow at CEA/Saclay (France), where his research was on numerical simulations of cosmic-rays and convective instabilities at supernova remnant shocks.

In his free time, Federico enjoys swimming and tennis, playing the violin, and cooking. He also enjoys time with his wife, renaissance art historian Evgenia Diakonenko, and his two children.

Congratulations to Sarah Sutton, recipient of this year's LPL Appointed Personnel Staff Excellence Award, and to Eneida Guerra de Lima, recipient of the 2015 Classified Staff Excellence Award!

Sarah Sutton is a Photogrammetry and Image Processing Scientist with the HiRISE project. She began working for Alfred McEwen as a student in 2006 and moved into a staff position in 2008. The group she leads, which includes 4 undergraduate students, produces digital terrain models (DTMs) from HiRISE, LROC, and CTX images. The nomination letters for Sarah cite many notable contributions, including:

development of methods to correct geometric distortions of images (produced by spacecraft pointing jitter), which not only improve DTMs and orthoimages, but are also valuable and applicable to other scientific studies and to certifying landing sites;
volunteering to support special studies, proposal preparation, and educational and outreach activities;
implementing innovations and automations that increase DTM production;
exceeding job expectations by providing service such as training LPL graduate students in production and analysis of DTMs.

Eneida Guerra de Lima joined LPL in October 2013 as an Information Technology Support Analyst, Principal, and immediately began making positive changes and contributions to LPL, improving the quality and effectiveness of IT services, identifying weaknesses and making recommendations and improvements. Eneida brought to LPL her expertise and previous experience with UA computing resources such as UAConnect and Outlook, and desktop support. Some specific examples of Eneida's superior performance include:

identifying weakness in data security for business operations, and making suggestions for updating and consolidated LPL services;
making time to multitask and resolve routine problems while carrying on other responsibilities of a more technical nature;
providing excellent customer support, being available, responsive, and communicative, providing follow-up service and detailed inquiry, with results that often apply to other users/areas;
taking on setup and networking of new copiers, including working with users to understand needs and working with the vendor to install and implement required software and networking, allowing the department to get full functionality from the machines;
advising and supporting academic AV enterprises, resulting in improvements to videoconferencing, and to classroom projection and computing.

Sarah and Eneida received their kudos at the LPL Spring Awards reception, held on April 22. Also acknowledged at the reception were Kenny Fine (Senior Systems Administrator with PIRL/HiRISE) and Maria Schuchardt (Program Coordinator, Senior with the Space Imagery Center). Kenny and Maria each received an Honorable Mention in the Appointed (Fine) and Classified (Schuchardt) categories; Maria is a previous recipient of the Staff Excellence Award (2005). As the classified staff recipient, Eneida's contributions were also acknowledged by Dean Joaquin Ruiz at the annual College of Science Staff Excellence Awards Luncheon held on April 15.

Congratulations Sarah and Eneida, and Kenny and Maria, and thank you for all you do!

Melissa Dykhuis

Catherine Elder

Patrick Harner

Youngmin JeongAhn

Huan Meng

Rob Zellem

Congratulations to Melissa Dykhuis, Catherine Elder, Patrick Harner, Youngmin JeongAhn, Huan Meng, and Rob Zellem, LPL's most recent graduates!

On November 21, 2014, Huan Meng defended his Ph.D. dissertation titled, "Planet Formation in the Terrestrial Zone." Huan's advisor was Regents' Professor George Rieke. Huan Meng is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate working with Professor Rieke at Steward Observatory.

Melissa Dykhuis defended her Ph.D. dissertation on March 13, 2015. Her advisor was Professor Richard Greenberg and her dissertation was titled, "Asteroid Family Dynamics in the Inner Main Belt."

Catherine Elder defended on April 7, 2015. The Ph.D. dissertation is titled, "The Effects of Melt on Impact Craters on Icy Satellites and on the Dynamics of Io's Interior." Catherine was advised by Professor Adam Showman. She is set to begin a Postdoctoral Fellowship with Dr. Paul Hayne at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Patrick Harner's defense of his M.S. thesis took place on May 5, 2015. The thesis is titled, "Carbonates and Other Salts in the Atacama Desert and on Mars, and the Implications for the Role of Life in Carbonate Formation." Partick's advisor was Regents' Professor Victor Baker.

Youngmin JeohngAhn defended on May 1, 2015. He was advised by Professor Renu Malhotra. His dissertation is titled, "Orbital Distribution of Minor Planets in the Inner Solar System and Their Impact Flux on the Moon, Earth and Mars."

Rob Zellem's defense of his dissertation titled, "Observing Transiting Exoplanets: Removing Systematic Errors to Constrain Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics" was on April 29, 2015. His advisor was Professor Caitlin Griffith. Rob is moving on to JPL as well, with a postdoctoral appointment with Dr. Mark Swain.

Paul (Dan) Moynihan passed away on February 18, 2015. Dan had been a Staff Engineer with Professor Robert Brown's Cassini VIMS group since 2000. Dan will be missed by his LPL colleagues.

The Michael J. Drake Building, home to the OSIRIS-REx mission, is the canvas for a colorful new mural celebrating that mission. The beautiful work of art is located on the building's west wall, just around the corner from the mural that commemorates the PHOENIX Mars Lander mission. The OSIRIS-REx mural was created by University of Arizona art students as part of a mural painting class taught by Professor Alfred Quiroz of the School of Art. The project was funded by the LPL External Advisory Board.

Learn more about the mural and watch a time lapse video of the painting process, see To an Asteroid and Back, All from the Parking Lot.

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