Fall

Four science and operations teams conducted a variety of scientific investigations and field equipment tests at sites in and around the Askja caldera. One science team investigated the soils in the region using handheld instruments similar to those onboard Mars rovers. This allows for a direct comparison between their field measurements and those on Mars to help determine what the rovers are observing. Another team operated a drone to take high-resolution images of the surface. They provided aerial imagery of other team’s field sites and continued their long-term monitoring of Mars-like aeolian processes like gravel ripple migration happening around the caldera.

The last science team was the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) team, which I had the opportunity to join. The team has been mapping the extent and thickness of ice deposits buried beneath pumice, ash, and other tephra from eruptions of Askja in 1875 and 1961. These ice deposits are potentially analogous to those found on Mars or the Moon. Combining the confirmed GPR observations of subsurface ice with airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations over the Askja caldera allows the team to simulate what future orbital radar systems could observe on Mars. This will be used to determine what a signal from ice would look like from orbital SAR systems in the future. The GPR team has also been monitoring these ice deposits over two field seasons to track any changes between 2019 and 2021 as the long-term stability of this ice is threatened by the warming climate. The ice deposits have been found to be as thin as 10 centimeters and thicker than 2.5 meters in some regions buried beneath up to 40 centimeters of tephra.

I am currently analyzing the collected radar data over the last two field seasons to calculate the thickness and extent of buried ice deposits across the floor of the Askja caldera. I'm also focusing on modifying existing GPR analysis techniques to aid in identifying the signature of buried ice and which radar frequencies are best suited for mapping shallow ice deposits such as these.

Nathan Hadland received a Geological Society of America Graduate Student Research Grant in support of his research on thermophilic life in hot springs in Iceland. The funding paid for the sequencing of DNA samples to determine the taxonomic diversity of those ecosystems. Nathan explains that it is possible that hot springs similar to those in Iceland may have formed on Mars in the past, and that characterizing the organisms that occupy similar environments on Earth can shed light into the types of life possible on Mars.

Nathan is a second-year doctoral student working with associate professors Solange Duhamel and Christopher Hamilton. His research interests include astrobiology and planetary surfaces.

Alumna Michelle Thompson (2016), an assistant professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University, is on a team that will analyze Moon rocks and lunar soil samples from the Apollo 17 mission.

LPL alum (1978) Brother Guy Consolmagno, Director of the Vatican Observatory, discusses the institution's past, present, and future roles in the dialogue between faith and science.

LPL alumnus Jonathan Fortney (2004), professor of astronomy and astrophysics at U.C. Santa Cruz, has been appointed by the Simons Foundation as a Simons Investigator in Astrophysics. The award provides $500,000 over five years to support his research on planetary atmospheres. The Simons Investigator program supports outstanding theoretical scientists most productive years, when they are establishing creative new research directions, providing leadership to the field and effectively mentoring junior scientists. Fortney studies the atmospheres, interiors, and thermal evolution of planets, including exoplanets, and develops numerical models to explore many aspects of the physics of planets.

There are 25 undergraduate students pursuing their minor program of study in Planetary Sciences. These students have varied major home departments, including Astronomy, Engineering, Chemistry, and Geosciences. We're proud to profile one of our undergraduate minor students in this semester's newsletter.

David Cantillo

Planetary science has always been appealing to me because it connects my research interests in astronomy with a more hands-on, geological perspective. When I heard that the University of Arizona was offering planetary sciences as a minor, it was an easy choice my freshman year of college.

What has been your favorite Planetary Sciences class and why? 

They've all been great, though the most influential was certainly the comets class (PTYS 4/595B, Observational Campaigns, Professor Walt Harris) that I took my first semester. I quickly learned that comets can be extremely dynamic and complex bodies, and the class was a wonderful introduction to graduate students I'm still in touch with now. The trip up to the 61" telescope on Mt. Bigelow is also something I'll always remember!

What are your future goals?

I would love to earn a doctoral degree and work in small bodies, space situational awareness, and/or astrobiology research.

Are you working on any current research projects?

Most recently, I was working on a project with Dr. Vishnu Reddy where we made a laboratory regolith mixture that matched the surface composition of the large metallic asteroid 16 Psyche. Finding Psyche's surface composition was an extremely rewarding project and I was excited to help contribute to the field with my first lead-author paper. Now, I'm working on a similar project where I'm looking at 16 Psyche in the visible range of light with groundbased telescopes at Biosphere II. From this, we hope to better constrain the nature of hydration on its surface.

Tell us about yourself.

In high school, I was really into astrophotography and would travel around Maryland to find the best spots without light pollution. This is largely what led me to study planetary sciences in the first place. Now, I've been focused on music throughout college. I've played guitar and bass in local bands for the past four years, and I'm the singer and lead songwriter for my current band, Daytrails. We played a show at this year's Art of Planetary Science and released our first single the same day.

I have my research advisor, Dr. Vishnu Reddy, to thank for helping me navigate the world of planetary science and college itself. He cares a lot about his students and I can't thank him enough for helping me get where I am today. Throughout the pandemic, he's been extremely compassionate and a great mentor.

  Sara Knutson

  Anjani Polit

Sara Knutson and Anjani Polit were each recognized by NASA for their outstanding work with the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Sara received an individual Robert H. Goddard Award for her work as Science Operations Lead Engineer at the OSIRIS-REx Science Processing and Operations Center. The citation for Sara’s Exceptional Achievement Award for Engineering reads, "For systems engineering excellence, teamwork, and leadership of the science implementation activities on the OSIRIS-REx mission.” 

Anjani and the OSIRIS-REx Planning and Implementation team she leads were honored with the Robert H. Goddard Award for their outstanding work in planning the science observations of Bennu. Anjani was previously awarded a Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Achievement Award for Engineering by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The Goddard Awards recognize exemplary achievements in spaceflight.