Network Organization
NOW is organized by 4 Co-Leads, and a Steering Committee made up of PIs from relevant Ocean Worlds projects funded through NASA R&A grants. More information about each member of the NOW steering committee, together with links to their research programs are listed below. All scientists and engineers funded as part of each project-team that has chosen to join the NOW Network are Members of the NOW Network.
In future, all ROSES proposers will be able to volunteer to join NOW by responding to a query during the proposal submission process.
In the spirit of inclusivity, NOW also offers the opportunity to join as an Affiliate of our network. Affiliates receive regular updates on NOW activities including alerts for new funding opportunities, details of how to participate in forthcoming community meetings and invitations to join our quarterly Ocean Worlds on-line seminar series. Affiliate status is designed to accommodate all those who are not currently funded through an active NASA Ocean Worlds research award but who seek to become involved in future Ocean Worlds research activities.
Steering Committee
Carrie Anderson
Laboratory Studies on the Chemical, Optical, and Physical Properties of Titan's Cassini CIRS-Observed Stratospheric Ice Clouds
Jeanine Ash
Jeanine Ash
Rice University
Biography
Jeanine Ash is a research scientist at Rice University. She works at the interface between isotope geochemistry and extreme subsurface environments.
Expertise
Methane, isotopes, biogeochemistry, scientific ocean drilling
NOW Relevant Research Interests
Biosignatures, analogue studies, life at extremes
Team Members
Andreas Teske, Edward Young
Kevin Arrigo
Kevin Arrigo
Stanford University
Expertise:
Biological oceanography, Arctic, Antarctic, primary production
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Life in extreme environments, remote sensing of life
Biography:
Kevin R. Arrigo is the Donald & Donald M. Steel Professor in Earth Sciences Professor in the Department of Earth System Science at Stanford University. He is also Chair of the Department of Earth System Science. He is a biological oceanographer who studies the microbial ecology of polar ecosystems to better understand their role in marine food webs, nutrient cycling, and productivity. His research focuses on photosynthetic organisms living in the sea ice and the ocean and how they are able to thrive in such extreme polar conditions. He was the lead investigator on the recent ICESCAPE project to the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean, the first NASA-funded field program, as well as its follow-on, SUBICE.
Samuel Bailey
Seismometer to Investigate Ice
and Ocean Structure (SIIOS)
Laurie Barge
Laurie Barge
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Team Members
Matt Pasek, Laura Rodriguez, Jonathan Major, Eduardo Martinez
Erika Barth
William Brinckerhoff
Europan Molecular Indicators
of Life Investigation (EMILI)
William Brinckerhoff
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Expertise:
Physics, mass spectrometry, astrobiology, laser ionization
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Will is a Co-I on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) investigation on Curiosity and Project Scientist of the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) investigation on ExoMars. Future development activities include the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS) on the upcoming Dragonfly
Biography:
Dr. Brinckerhoff is a senior scientist in the Solar System Exploration Division at Goddard. He received a B.A. in Physics from Johns Hopkins and a Ph.D. in Physics from Ohio State. He found his way into planetary science and instrument development as a postdoctoral fellow and later a Staff Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, before joining the Planetary Environments Lab (PEL) at NASA Goddard. He served as PEL lab chief from 2015-2019.
Team Members:
Peter Willis, Antonio (Tony) Ricco, Jessica Creamer, Fernanda Mora, Andrej Grubisic, Jennifer Stern, Ryan Danell, Desmond Kaplan, Jennifer Eigenbrode, Bethany Theiling
Shane Byrne
Shane Byrne
University of Arizona
Expertise:
Mars, Ice, Landscape Evolution, Climate, Ceres, Europa, sublimation
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Technology development of a Ocean Worlds Lander Camera system.
Biography:
I am interested in surface processes on planetary bodies throughout the solar system, especially those processes that affect, or are driven by, planetary ices. I enjoy working with a diverse group of graduate students and postdocs. Our areas of activity include Martian ice stability, polar stratigraphy and connection to past climates; Ceres ice, both cryovolcanic and as a source of water vapor; and ice-sublimation landforms on all icy bodies. Missions are a big part of what we do. I’m a co-Investigator on the HiRISE and CaSSIS cameras at Mars and a Guest Investigator on the Dawn mission at Ceres. I’m also the director of the Space Imagery Center, a NASA Regional Planetary Image Facility. We archive planetary spacecraft and telescopic data not available online and conduct many outreach events.
Team Members
Christain d'Aubigny, Bashar Rizk, Catherine Merrill, Steve Meyer
Audrey Chatain
Audrey Chatain
Southwest Research institute
Expertise:
Titan, atmosphere, tholins
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Titan methane lakes, rivers and precipitations
Biography:
My favorite place of study is Titan. In PhD I focused on the evolution of its aerosols in the ionosphere by interaction with the plasma species. I performed lab experiments and analyzed Cassini data. I defended in 2020 and since then I work on the preparation of the electric field antennas onboard Dragonfly. I also studied the atmospheric turbulence at the surface of Mars using InSight data. I recently started to study the methane cycle on Titan and the formation of its methane clouds through climate modeling.
Kate Craft
Kate Craft
John Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
Expertise:
Sample Preparation, salts, nanopore, fracture mechanics
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Europa, Enceladus, Ceres, fluid transport within ice shells, biosignature detection and instrument development
Biography:
Dr. Kate Craft is a geophysicist and astrobiologist at the JHU Applied Physics Lab, in MD. A focus of her current work is helping to develop NASA's Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter's icy moon Europa, to investigate the moon's structure, potential activity, and habitability. Kate is also part of the study for a landed mission on Europa. Her research interests include modeling fluid intrusions, fracture mechanics and hydrothermal systems. She is also interested in biosignatures and habitability of different environments. Currently, she co-leads an in situ instrument development that purifies samples on-chip, removing salts and other inhibitors, to enable biosignature analyses. Kate is also the PI for development of a communication capability for a subsurface Europa cryobot. Field work is also an avenue she pursues to provide insight into physical and biological processes. Outside of work, Kate enjoys running, soccer, flying airplanes, outreach and doing fun activities with her 3 kids and husband.
Team Members:
Christine McCarthy, Vishaal Singh, Mike Jakuba, Matt Walker, Wes Patterson, Ralph Lorenz
Thomas Cwik
Thomas Cwik
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Expertise:
Cryobot Development, electromagnetics, Technology development, modeling and simulation
Now Relevant Research Interests:
Cryobot systems, Life Detection Instruments, Ocean Worlds Mission development
Biography:
Tom Cwik leads the JPL Space Technology Office that manages the development of technologies for future NASA missions. He leads a group that develops concepts, and sustains development of the technology until it can be infused into space missions. The technologies span a wide spectrum, but focus on infusion in the fiveto ten-year timeframe while partnering with NASA, universities and leading-edge companies. He and his team lead a number of these projects. Tom received his doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. At JPL, he has worked in a range of advanced engineering and project activities including antenna design, instrument development, project formulation, high-performance computing, Cryobot development and in a range of management roles. He works with start-up companies, consults, and is an Adjunct Professor at U Washington.
Mohit Melwani Daswani
Mohit Melwani Daswani
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Expertise:
Geochemistry, thermodynamics, water-rock interaction
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Geochemistry, habitability
Biography:
Postdoc at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on the habitability and geochemistry of Europa and other icy ocean worlds.
Cristina Dalle Ore
Tracking the organic matter
in the outer Saturn System
Cristina Morea Dalle Ore
SETI Institute / NASA Ames
Expertise:
Planetary Science, Remote Sensing, Radiative Transfer Modeling
Now Relevant Research Interests:
Surface composition of the icy satellites of Saturn
Biography:
Cristina Morea Dalle Ore is a Senior Data Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center / Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. She Built and applied a number of custom tailored analytical approaches to the study of very diverse datasets. These include non-linear and stochastic modeling, residual analysis, clustering.New Horizons composition analysis. Key member of the composition team analyzing the flyby data of the New Horizons spacecraft. Lead scientist in the discovery of ammonia on Pluto's surface. Responsible for analyzing spectroscopic data with high geographical resolution of the surfaces of Pluto and Charon to obtain their surface composition. The very large number of data is conducive to the use of techniques designed for ‘big data’ analysis such as classification schemes and parallelization of computing.Cassini VIMS data analysis. Member of the team responsible of the spectroscopic analysis of the moons of Saturn to obtain insight on the evolution of the system and provide essential information on the processes related to cataclysmic events on icy surfaces. Image cubes consist of several tens of thousands of spectra. I use ‘Big data’ techniques consisting mainly of modeling and classification approaches, but also of custom tailored identification and extraction of features tuned to map the behavior of physical conditions. Statistical analysis of trans-neptunian objects (TNOs) composition. Responsible for a statistical analysis of trans-neptunian objects’ data from the Spitzer Space Telescope with the aim to characterize their surface composition. Modeling and clustering approaches were customized to extract all available information avoiding over-interpretation. The challenge being in the large number of objects with individual spectra consisting of a very limited number of points.
Team members:
Francesca Scipioni, Jason Cook
Brian DiPaolo
Goeppert LLC
Expertise:
Nanopore nanofabrication microscopy optics spectroscopy cellular molecular commercialization research development bioengineering
Now Relevant Research Interests:
Life detection with nanopore and sample preparation
Biography:
BS and MS in biomedical engineering at Drexel University, absolutely loved every minute of it. I had the privilege of pursuing research in neuroengineering, helping with development of single neuron recording neural electrodes. I also had the privilege to fly aboard NASA’s reduced gravity KC-135 Weightless Wonder with a novel polymer electrospinning project.
Team members:
Bethany Ehlmann
Tucker Ely
Sierra Ferguson
Sierra Ferguson
Southwest Research Institute
Christine Foreman
Christine Foreman
Montana State University
Expertise:
Microbes, organic matter, cryosphere, biofilms
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Life in ice, organic matter, cryosphere, microbes
Biography:
I am a marine geochemist with 30y experience exploring the deep ocean for seafloor fluid flow, its geologic controls, impacts on ocean biogeochemistry and potential to host chemosynthetic life. I have a particular interest in the development of novel technologies (both platforms and in situ instruments) to increase the efficiency with which we explore ocean basins. I am a veteran of more than 60 deep ocean field programs, including the use of deep-diving submersibles (occupied and robotic), and autonomous underwater vehicles, and have been involved in the discovery of new seafloor fluid flow sites in every ocean basin on Earth including the Arctic and Southern Oceans. In parallel with pursuing my own research interests, I have previously served as co-Chair of InterRidge (2007-2009), the Census of Marine Life’s Chemosynthetic Ecosystems field program (2001-2010) and Chief Scientist for the US National Deep Submergence Facility (2006-2014).
Team Members:
Markus Dieser, Heidi Smith, Mitch Messmer, Marco Tedesco, Shujie Wang,
Dominique Fourguette
Dominique Fourguette
Michigan Aerospace Corporation
Expertise:
Optical sensing, light scattering, optical sensors
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Optical sensing, sensor development
Biography:
Dr. Fourguette is Vice President of Research & Development at Michigan Aerospace Corporation. She has over 20 years of experience in optical diagnostics techniques, and has been the lead scientist on the development of optical detection techniques, integrated optics-based instrumentation and micro-sensors. She has over twenty publications in optical diagnostics and related fields, and has co-authored four patents in sensor development. She is currently the PI on the resonator-based seismometer (FROSTY) for NASA’s COLDTech program. She is Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and was member of the AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Techniques Technical Committee between 1999 and 2010, on which she served as Chair from 2004 to 2006.
Dionysios Foustoukos
Christopher German
Chris German
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Expertise
Marine Geochemistry, Hydrothermal Systems
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Seafloor fluid flow systems as hosts for chemosynthetic life
Biography:
I am a marine geochemist with 30y experience exploring the deep ocean for seafloor fluid flow, its geologic controls, impacts on ocean biogeochemistry and potential to host chemosynthetic life. I have a particular interest in the development of novel technologies (both platforms and in situ instruments) to increase the efficiency with which we explore ocean basins. I am a veteran of more than 60 deep ocean field programs, including the use of deep-diving submersibles (occupied and robotic), and autonomous underwater vehicles, and have been involved in the discovery of new seafloor fluid flow sites in every ocean basin on Earth including the Arctic and Southern Oceans. In parallel with pursuing my own research interests, I have previously served as co-Chair of InterRidge (2007-2009), the Census of Marine Life’s Chemosynthetic Ecosystems field program (2001-2010) and Chief Scientist for the US National Deep Submergence Facility (2006-2014).
Team Members:
Donna Blackman, Andrew Fisher, Peter Girguis, Kevin Hand, Tori Hoehler, Jeffrey Seewald, Julie Huber, John Marshall, Everett Shock, Christophe Sotin, Andreas Thurnherr, Brandy Toner, Adam Price, Tucker Ely, Noah Randolph-Flagg, Kirt Robinson, Sanjoy Som,
Michele Gierach
Michele Gierach
NASA JPL
Team Members:
Boyang Pan, NASA JPL; Gail Woodward, NASA JPL
Peter Girguis
Peter Girguis
Harvard University
Expertise:
Extremophiles, physiology, biogeochemistry, hydrothermal vents, subsurface, microbiology, high-pressure, pressure
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Microbial physiology, Deep sea biology, underwater sensors
Biography:
Peter Girguis is a Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. His lab research focuses on microbes and animals that flourish in “extreme environments”. He also builds novel deep-sea instruments such as underwater mass spectrometers and microbial samplers. Prof. Girguis received his B.Sc. from U.C.L.A., his Ph.D. from U.C. Santa Barbara, and did postdoctoral research at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Prof. Girguis’ honors include consecutive commendations for distinguished teaching, the Lindbergh Foundation Award for Science & Sustainability, and Discover Magazine’s “10 Everyday Technologies That Can Change the World”. He was a Distinguished Lecturer for the National Science Foundation, a Merck Co. Innovative Research Awardee, and a Dept. of Energy Biotechnology Fellow. Girguis has co-authored over 85 publications, served as chair of the National Deep Submergence Science Committee from 2010-2016, and is on notable ocean advisory boards.
Jennifer Glass
Jennifer Glass
Georgia Institute of Technology
Expertise:
Clathrates, hydrates, methane, microbes, metals
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Jennifer Glass studies the chemical and enzymatic mechanisms that underpin cycling of greenhouse gases, with particular focus on methane and nitrous oxide. The Glass lab couples tools from geochemistry and molecular biology to disentangle biotic vs. abiotic signatures in elemental cycles. A major focus of current research is habitability and biosignatures of gas hydrates, extreme environments that are widespread in the solar system and could serve as refugia for deep subsurface microbes on Mars and icy moons.
Biography:
Dr. Jennifer Glass is an associate professor in the Georgia Tech School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences with a courtesy appointment in Biological Sciences. She earned BSc degrees in Earth Sciences and Oceanography from the University of Washington, a PhD in Geological Sciences from Arizona State University, and a NASA Astrobiology Postdoctoral Fellowship at Caltech. Her research is on geochemistry and microbiology in context of the global biogeochemical cycles and astrobiology. She has served as PI on two NASA Exobiology grants exploring microbial-methane interactions. She is the founding chair of the Southeastern Biogeochemistry Symposium, a Kavli Fellow, a Scialog Fellow, Associate Editor for Frontiers in Microbiology and Geobiology journals, and chair of the local organizing committee for AbSciCon 2021. Her education and outreach efforts focus on diversifying the STEM workforce and democratizing science through open-access science communication efforts such as Wikipedia, KnowledgeBase, and HypothesisBrowser.
Team Members:
Abigail Johnson
Heather Graham
Heather Graham
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/ Catholic University of America
Expertise
Organic biogeochemistry
NOW Relevant Research Interests
Ocean Worlds analog field locations and proxy materials for biosignatures and life detection research
Biography
Heather Graham is an organic geochemist with a diverse background in biology, analytical chemistry, paleontology, and statistical modeling. Graham combines her expertise in the expression and preservation of chemical biosignatures with an understanding of the constraints of space flight instrumentation.Her research focuses on the fundamental scientific development of tools and techniques that can help us identify “agnostic biosignatures” across the solar system in in the deep subsurface. Graham is profoundly curiosity about the natural world, the history of life, the vast connections between biotic and abiotic systems,
and what evolution can tell us about our future.
Jacqueline Grebmeier
Jacqueline Grebmeier
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
Expertise:
Arctic, ecosystems, benthos, sea ice ecosystems
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Polar ecosystems, sea ice cover, phytoplankton production
Biography:
Dr. Grebmeier is a Research Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences (UMCES), Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL). Her academic background includes a B.A. Zoology from the University of California Davis, a M.S. degree from Stanford University, a M.M.A from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She subsequently completed a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Southern California, then spent 20 years at the University of Tennessee prior to joining CBL in 2008. Her research interests are related to pelagic-benthic coupling, benthic carbon cycling, and benthic faunal population structure in relation to ecosystem structure and change in polar marine systems. She was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018. Finally, she has led the international Distributed Biological Observatory that acts as a change detection array in the Pacific Arctic since 2010.
Robert Grimm
Jennifer Hanley
Investigating the Stability of Trace Species in Titan’s Lakes and Seas
Jennifer Hanley
Lowell Observatory
Team Members:
Anna Engle, Will Grundy, Gerrick Lindberg, Stephen Tegler, Sugata Tan
Alexander Hayes
Alexander Hayes
Cornell University
Bryana Henderson
Plasma-Surface Interactions on Europa: Quantification of Primary and Secondary Radiation with Depth
Bryana Henderson
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Team Members
Murthy Gudipati, Benjamin Fleury
Matthew Hedman
Matthew Hedman
University of Idaho
Expertise:
Orbit dynamics, Remote Sensing, Dust, Data processing
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Characterization of particles in the Enceladus plume
Biography:
Originally did research work on efforts to measure the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background. Started working for the Cassini Mission in 2004 as a research associate at Cornell. I spent most of my time working on observations of Saturn's rings using data from the cameras and the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS). This work led me to analyze the VIMS observations of Enceladus' plume, which have provided constraints on the plume's particle size distribution, revealed variations in plume output with orbital phase, and most recently documented variations in the particle properties and dust-to-gas ratio among the material launched from the different fissures. I am now a faculty member at the University of Idaho and a Co-I of the MISE investigation for the Europa Clipper mission.
Team Members:
Sanaz Vahidinia, Deepak Dhingra
Kevin Hand
Investigating energetic electron weathering at Saturn's inner
mid-sized moons
Tori Hoehler
Tori Hoehler
NASA Ames Research Center
Expertise:
Microbial ecology, bioenergetics, habitability, detectability
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Water-rock chemistry as it bears on life; Detectability of ocean world biospheres
Biography:
Tori Hoehler is a research scientist and PI of the Center for Life Detection at NASA Ames. With a background in chemistry and chemical oceanography, he studies the relationship between life and environment from the perspective of energy flow. Building on observational and theoretical studies of H2-based life in Earthly serpentinizing environments, he seeks to understand how water-rock chemistry may influence the habitability of environments beyond Earth, and the detectability of any life that may exist in such environments.
Team Members:
Clemens Glombitza, Tom McCollom, David Fike
Jason D. Hofgartner
Eris: The brightest (and most active?)
Amy Hofmann
Experimental investigation of vapor pressure isotope effects relevant to surface- atmosphere interactions on Titan
Amy Hofmann
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Expertise:
Isotope geochemistry, abiotic organic synthesis, Titan, Enceladus, Europa, surface chemistry, surface-atmosphere interactions
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Isotope geochemistry, abiotic organic synthesis, Titan, Enceladus, Europa, surface chemistry, surface-atmosphere interactions
Biography:
I am an isotope geochemist interested in the fundamental chemical physics that govern isotopic fractionation in various systems. My research combines laboratory experiments, analytical measurements, and computational chemistry to investigate various processes and the isotopic signatures (including multiply-substituted) that they impart on simple organic and inorganic molecules. I use a wide array of instrumentation—primarily various flavors of mass spectrometers, including Orbitrap-based technology—in this work. I consider myself an "equal-opportunity planetary scientist" because my research interests lend themselves to investigations of just about any planetary body or solar system object.
James Holden
Competition among Thermophilic Autotrophs in Resource-Limited Environments
James Holden
University Of Massachusetts, Amherst
Expertise:
Thermophiles, hydrothermal vents, metabolism, spectroscopy
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Modeling and detection of thermophiles in the subseafloor
Biography:
Jim Holden is a Professor and Department Head of Microbiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is also on the Steering Committee for the UMass School of Earth and Sustainability. His research focuses on high-temperature microorganisms that grow in hydrothermal environments in the deep sea. Specifically, he is interested in microbial life in the Earth’s crust that lives without sunlight or oxygen, the search for life on Earth and elsewhere, numerical modeling of microbial metabolism, microbe-mineral interactions, and the application of thermophiles in bioremediation and bioenergy. He has participated in two dozen oceanographic expeditions and made 11 trips to the bottom of the ocean in the deep-sea submarine Alvin.
Sam Howell
Europa’s icy tectonics:
First-principles and higher-order modeling
Carly Howett
Carly Howett
Southwest Research Institute
Expertise:
Ice Worlds, Surface Science, Pluto, Kuiper Belt, Europa, Enceladus
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Pluto, Europa, Enceladus.
Biography:
Dr. Carly Howett’s main interest in finding new ways to explore our solar system through the development of new instrumentation, missions and ground-based observations. Her main research interest is in understanding the surface properties of icy worlds, including Saturn’s icy moons, Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, Europa, and Kuiper Belt Objects (including Pluto and Charon). She is the Deputy Principal Investigator of the Ralph Instrument on New Horizons, an Instrument Scientist on NASA’s newly selected Lucy mission and a Co-Investigator on two other NASA missions: Cassini and Europa Clipper. She is also the Deputy Principal Investigator of Trident, a NASA mission in Phase A study that will explore Neptune’s moon Triton, and the Principal Investigator in a NASA funded Planetary Mission Concept Study to determine the feasibility of returning to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
Julie Huber
Julie Huber
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Expertise:
Oceanography, deep sea, microbiology, astrobiology, ocean crust, geomicrobiology
Biography:
JULIE HUBER is a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Dr. Huber is an oceanographer who studies microbial life in deep-sea crustal ocean habitats. These microbes provide critical ecosystem services such as primary production to sustain deep-sea food webs, nutrient and element recycling, carbon sequestration, and symbiotic relationships with diverse animals. In her research, she unravels the mystery of what microbes live in oceanic crustal environments, how they harness energy from the fluids and rocks that surround them, their activities, evolutionary trajectories, and interactions, and how they contribute to carbon and element cycling that influence the broader ocean system. She has led and participated in numerous deep-sea expeditions using human-occupied, remotely operated, and autonomous vehicles to study microbial life on and beneath the seafloor around the world. Dr. Huber served as a member of the National Academies’ Committee on Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032.
Team Members:
Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert, Sabrina Elkassas
Karen Junge
Karen Junge
Polar Science Center at Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington
Expertise:
Psychrophiles, low temperature environments, sea ice, glacial ice
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Earth analog microbial research in subzero low temperature environments
Biography:
Currently, Karen Junge’s research interests lie at the interface of the biosphere and geosphere where she explores bacterial life at extremely low temperatures in ice. She is motivated by research questions that center around how polar psychrophilic (cold-loving) bacteria adapt to life in ice and how they interact with and impact their physical and chemical environment, questions that currently comprise a very active research field. To this end, she develops and uses molecular biology, microbiology, geophysics and atmospheric science techniques. She is also interested in the genomic and proteomics makeup of these organisms and to determine biomarkers or biosignatures for the cold life style and how physiology, diversity and ecology of psychrophilic bacteria change when confronted with the extreme cold. She is driven to develop ways to analyze microbial communities under in-situ conditions with minimal disturbance of their natural environment.
Team Members:
Bonnie Light, Brook Nunn, Jonathon Toner, Erin Firth, MIranda Mudge
Simon Kattenhorn
A plate tectonic drift paradigm
shift: new context for explaining
Europa's fractured surface
Frieder Klein
Frieder Klein
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Expertise
fluid-rock interactions, serpentinization, carbonation, abiotic organic synthesis, thermodynamic modeling, hydrothermal laboratory experiments, deep sea exploration
Biography
I am an Associate Scientist with tenure in the Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where I study fluid-rock interactions in marine environments on Earth and other planetary bodies.
NOW Relevant Research Interests
My research concerns the chemical interactions between aqueous fluids and rocks in a broad array of geodynamic settings, including mid-ocean ridges, rifted margins, subduction zones, and ophiolites, as well as other planets, moons, and meteorite parent bodies that once had - or still have - liquid water. Trained as a marine geologist, petrologist, and aqueous geochemist, my research approach is to integrate field geology, analytical geochemistry and spectroscopy, hydrothermal laboratory experiments, and thermodynamics to address the fundamental problem of how fluid-rock reactions work. Over the past 10+ years, I have studied the reaction pathways and redox conditions during serpentinization, abiotic synthesis of organic compounds, carbonation of serpentinized peridotite, mass transfer reactions between mafic and ultramafic rocks, mass transfer between the igneous oceanic basement and seawater during high- and low-temperature alteration processes, mixing of hydrothermal fluids with seawater, fluid inclusions, the subseafloor biosphere in serpentinite and gabbro, and other topics.
Erin Leonard
Yang Liao
Beyond the viscoelastic model: re-evaluating tidal heating and fluid flows in tidally heated moons using two-phase physics
Darlene Lim
Darlene Lim
NASA Ames Research Center
Expertise:
Geobiology, Operations, Analogs
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Characterizing capabilities and ConOps that can support both ocean sciences and ocean worlds research
Biography:
Darlene Lim is a research scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center in California. Darlene leads several NASA-funded research programs that are focused on blending field science research with the development of capabilities and concepts for future human spaceflight. She is the Principal Investigator of the NASA-funded SUBSEA, BASALT and Pavilion Lake research programs, Deputy PI for NASA SSERVI FINESSE, and Co-I/Science Ops lead for NASA SSERVI RESOURCE. Darlene has served on a number of NASA MEPAG (Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group) committees and is also currently serving on the NOAA Ocean Exploration Advisory Board. Darlene has conducted field research around the world; underwater, on land, and aerially. Darlene hopes to help bridge the ocean sciences and ocean worlds research communities by bringing her knowledge of relevant, cross-cutting resources to the NOW Steering Committee.
Team Members:
Shannon Kobs Nawotniak, Amy Smith
Juan Lora
The dynamics and seasonal evolution of Titan's polar vortex
Shannon MacKenzie
Shannon MacKenzie
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
Expertise:
Titan, Enceladus, sediments, spectroscopy, mission development, dunes
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Titan, Enceladus
Biography:
I am originally from the Northern Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati. I received a BSc in Physics from the University of Louisville in 2012 and finished graduate school at the University of Idaho in 2017, earning a MSc and PhD. I was a post doc at JHU APL starting in 2018 and transitioned to staff in 2020. I worked closely with the Cassini VIMS team and am a science Co-I on Dragonfly.
Team Members:
Jason Barnes, Jason Soderblom
Christopher McKay
Development of Nanopore
Sequencing for Automated
Ocean World Life Detection
Michael Malaska
Michael Malaska
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Expertise:
Titan astrobiology "surface geology" spectroscopy "organic chemistry" cryosphere
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Titan "Ocean Worlds" "life detection" "life in ice" "surface geology of Titan" "mapping Titan"
Biography:
I have a background in organic chemistry and conduct research on surface geology and astrobiological ppotential of Titan. I am interested in life in Deep Ice and have done field work in Greenland using a Deep UV fluorescence instrumented drill.
Team Members
J. Michael Brown, Sarah Fagents, Chris Glein, Alex Hayes, Robert Hodyss ,Paul Johnson, Fabien Kenig, D'Arcy Meyer-Dombard, Claire Newman, Conor Nixon, Florian Schwandner, Anezina Solomonidou, Christophe Sotin, Sugata Tan, Steve Vance, Karen Willacy, Mohit Melwani Daswani, Sam Birch, Ashley Schoenfeld
Emily Martin
Emily Martin
Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Expertise:
Tectonics, Structural Geology, Geophysics, Geologic History, Geologic Mapping
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Tectonic history, geologic history and evolution of planetary interiors.
Biography:
Dr. Emily Martin is a planetary scientist interested in planetary surface processes and tectonic deformation across our solar system and how they relate to the thermal and geophysical histories of icy moons.
Julia McGonigle
Gareth Meirion-Griffith
Gareth Meirion-Griffith
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Expertise:
Technology, extreme-terrain mobility, rovers, terramechanics, operations
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Technology roadmaps, surface & subsurface mobility
Biography:
Dr. Gareth Meirion-Griffith is the Supervisor of the Robotic Climbers and Grippers group at JPL. His research interests fall largely into lower TRL (1 - 5) mobility concepts that enable access to extreme terrains. Prior to working at JPL, Gareth was an automation systems engineer for Dynamic Motion Control Inc. in Chicago, and a geostationary spacecraft operator at EUMETSAT, Germany.
Jill Mikucki
ICE-MAMBA Ice-covered
Chemosynthetic Ecosystems:
Mineral Availability and MicroBiological Accessibility
Alison Murray
Alison Murray
Desert Research Institute
Expertise
Microbial ecology, microbial oceanography, life in extreme environments, genomics, microscopy, life detection, geobiology, symbiosis, microbial evolution
NOW Relevant Research Interests
Search for extant life on ocean worlds, biosignature detection, brine and ice-interface habitability
Biography
Prof. Murray’s scientific program utilizes an integrative, science and technology-driven approach to advance knowledge of the natural world and motivate studies searching for life in the universe. She’s engaged in scientific leadership roles to build community links and communicate across disciplinary boundaries. Scientifically, her work has broadened understanding of free-living and symbiotic microbial life in diverse, often extreme environments, particularly Earth’s cryosphere. Her research utilizes state-of-the-art techniques ranging from fluorescence and atomic force microscopy, environmental biogeochemistry and microbial activity determinations to the application of molecular and (meta)’omic tools to understand the diversity, capability and functions of microbial life. This work has taken her to both poles on ~ 20 expeditions and to study geobiological interactions on Earth’s deep-sea hydrothermal vents, yellowstone travertine hot springs and alpine cryo-environments. She has been PI or CoI on NASA ASTEP, NAI, EPSCoR and COLDTech programs, and served as co-chair of the Europa Lander Science Definition Team.
Aaron Noell
Cellular and Complex Organic Biosignature Preservation Potential of Cryogenic Ices
Aaron Noell
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Expertise:
Chemical kinetics, life detection, biosignature preservation, ion selective electrodes
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Life detection on Ocean Worlds and the preservation of biosignatures at Ocean World surfaces
Biography:
Aaron Noell received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Caltech in 2010, and was then a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He is currently a technologist working in the Instruments division at JPL. As a technologist he focuses on the development of instruments for the assessment of habitability and the search for extant life on other bodies in the Solar System. His research interests also include the radiation chemistry of low temperature ices, and the impact of that chemistry on habitability and biosignature preservation in the ices.
Team Members:
Edith Fayolle, Paul Johnson, Robert Hodyss, Fernanda Mora, Jessica Creamer
Conor Nixon
Conor Nixon
NASA GFSC
Expertise
Astronomy; Spectroscopy; Atmospheres; Titan; AI/ML
NOW Relevant Research Interests
Titan atmosphere; Europa chaos
Biography
Dr Conor Nixon is a planetary scientist with a long-standing interest in ocean worlds and the search for life in the solar system. As a Co-Investigator on the Cassini mission, he has used remote sensing measurements to measure the composition and chemistry of Titan's atmosphere. More recently, he has been involved in multi-wavelength astronomy of Titan from ground and space-based observatories, and is the lead for the Cycle 1 program of Titan observations with JWST. He is also working on new directions in research using AI/ML techniques to more rapidly identify clouds and surface properties across ocean worlds.
Team Members
Alexander Thelen, Martin Cordiner, Brendan Steffens
Jessica Noviello
Jessica Noviello
Goddard Space Flight Center
Expertise:
Ocean worlds, statistical analyses, asteroids, Kuiper Belt objects, Pluto, Charon, exoplanets, science management, science communication
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Ocean worlds, habitability, liquid water, Europa, Charon
Biography:
Dr. Jessica Noviello is the NExSS NASA Postdoctoral Management Program Fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center. She is also the Science PI on a project that will study cryovolcanism on Pluto's moon Charon and its role in resurfacing Charon's surface. This work will be applied to other icy moons in the Solar System that may also show signs of cryovolcanism. Dr. Noviello earned her PhD from Arizona State University where she studied the small-scale geomorphology of Europa's surface and the implications for formation mechanisms of the landscape. She is also actively researching the geophysical evolution of the dwarf planet Haumea, which may be one of the most distant ocean worlds known, and the potential structures of exoplanets based on radius and temperature observations and distance from their stars. You can follow Dr. Noviello’s science adventures on Twitter at @JessicaNoviello and on Instagram at @RoadTripDinosaur
Stephanie Olson
Oceanographic Considerations for the Oxygenation of Habitable Worlds: Lessons from Early Earth
Beth Orcutt
Beth Orcutt
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
Expertise:
Geomicrobiology, deep biosphere, astrobiology, low biomass, deep sea, ocean crust, observatories, ocean worlds
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
NASA Exobiology award to use single-cell labeling techniques in low biomass
Biography:
I am a Senior Research Scientist, and I am fascinated by the microscopic life below the seafloor living within oceanic crust and getting energy to grow from the chemicals in rocks. My research uses submarines, robots, and long-term observatories drilled into the seafloor to study microbes in this ecosystem, through a combination of geochemical, electromicrobiological, and single cell-level genomic techniques. I specialize in adapting techniques to work with low biomass, slow-growing microbes.
Charity Phillips-Lander
Charity Phillips Lander
Southwest Research institute
Expertise
Astrobiology, Brine Geochemistry, Laboratory and Field Analog Studies, Life in Extreme Environments, Raman Spectroscopy, Instrument Development
NOW Relevant Research Interests
I am interested in analog studies of Ocean Worlds, particularly aimed at life detection, and in instrument development for future astrobiology missions.
Biography
My research focuses on how we search for and differentiate life and biosignatures from background abiotic signatures. My work incorporates field and laboratory analog studies of extreme environments to aid in the development of instrumentation and search methodologies for future planetary missions. Currently, I am leading a multidisciplinary team to determine how organics influence the formation and maintenance of habitable environments in Ocean World ice shells.
Team Members
Claire Marshall, Sarah Lamm, Kennda Lynch
Louise Prockter
Louise Prockter
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Lynnae Quick
The Role of Cryovolcanism in Creating Habitable Niches on Exoplanets Beyond the Snow Line
Lynnae Quick
NASA Goddard Space Flight
Expertise:
Europa; Ceres; exoplanets; ocean worlds; volcanism; cryovolcanism
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Cryovolcanism as an exchange process on ocean worlds; crystallization of subsurface oceans on our solar system's dwarf planets and icy moons; Europa and Enceladus as small-scale analogs of water-rich extrasolar planets
Biography:
Dr. Quick's work focuses on geophysical processes on the Ocean Worlds in our solar system and in extrasolar planetary systems. She applies principles of fluid dynamics and heat transfer to model cryovolcanic processes and ocean crystallization on the icy moons of the giant planets and on dwarf planet Ceres. Dr. Quick also studies silicic volcanism on Venus and the Moon, and utilizes knowledge of the planets and moons in our solar system to characterize Earth-like exoplanets. Dr. Quick is a member of the Dawn, Europa Clipper, and Dragonfly Mission science teams as well as the SSERVI TREX science team. She is also a member of NASA's Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds (ROW) team and the OPAG steering committee
Team Members:
Amy Barr, Aki Roberge
Richard Quinn
LIfE: Luminescence
Imager for Exploration
Jani Radebaugh
Jani Radebaugh
Brigham Young University
Expertise:
Titan, organics, Pluto
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Habitability in a variety of environments
Biography:
Jani Radebaugh is a planetary scientist studying geomorphology and history of a variety of landscapes including aeolian environments, volcanic landscapes and active eruptions, rivers, lakes and mountains. She is a Science Team member of the Dragonfly rotorcraft lander mission for Titan, which will assess the habitability conditions on the surface in the equatorial dune regions. She also studies Pluto and Jupiter's moon Io, and compares landscapes on Earth with those on other planets.
Noah Randolph-Flagg
Noah Randolph-Flagg
NASA Ames Research Institute
Expertise:
Groundwater hydrology, hydrothermal systems, fluid dynamics, volcanology, fault zones
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Tidal heating, phosphorous availability, submarine volcanism
Biography:
Dr. Noah Randolph-Flagg is a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow based at NASA Ames. His research focuses on modeling hydrothermal systems on Earth and other ocean worlds using a variety of field, analytical, and numerical models. He is currently focused on modeling the effects of tidal dissipation in groundwater and phosphorous availability and anabolism on ocean worlds. He completed his PhD at UC Berkeley where he studied hydrothermal systems in volcanic systems and fault zones in California, Tibet, Taiwan, and Hawaii. During that work, he was supported by a NASA Graduate Research Fellowship and Fulbright Fellowship based in China. He graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Geology from Carleton College.
Alyssa Rhoden
Alyssa Rhoden
Southwest Research Institute
Expertise:
Planetary science, moons, ocean worlds, tectonics, tides
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Ice physics, tectonics, ice-ocean interfaces, analogues, mission development, plumes, tides
Biography:
I study the geophysics of outer solar system moons, with an emphasis on understanding how ice-covered ocean worlds form, evolve, and function through time. Much of my career has involved interpreting fractures patterns (or lack thereof) on icy satellites by comparing observed fractures with tidal stress models in order to identify oceans, characterize ice shell properties, and understand the physical processes affecting ice shells. I served on the Science Definition Team for a lander mission to Europa and was a supporting scientist for the Europa Clipper Mission, where I assessed the likelihood of active plumes on Europa and their detectability. I also served on the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science, and I am a co-lead for the Network for Ocean Worlds. I am a principal scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, an adjunct professor at Arizona State University, and a mother of two.
Alessandra Ricca
Constraining the macromolecular organics in Enceladus' plumes under hypervelocity impact conditions
Alessandra Ricca
SETI Institute
Team Members:
Lisseth Gavilan, Rosalba Bonaccorsi ,Christopher McKay, Simon George Kevin Wilson, Frank Postberg
James Roberts
Geologic Evidence for a South
Polar Impact on Enceladus
James Roberts
JHU Applied Physics Lab
Expertise:
Geophysics, Geodynamics, Tidal Dissipation, Gravity Science, Geodesy
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Tidal, thermal, and orbital evolution of icy satellites; Ice-shell penetrating impacts; gravity anomalies in the ice shell and seafloor
Biography:
My goal is to understand why the various planets and moons of the solar system look the way they do now, what they were like early in their history, and how they evolved to their present state. I approach these questions this by modeling large-scale geodynamics of terrestrial planets and icy satellites. I am primarily concerned with:
Sources of heat in planetary interiors, tidal dissipation, radioactive decay, and impacts.
Solid-state convection and the removal of heat from planetary interiors.
Surface features and mass anomalies generated by geodynamic processes, and their effect on planetary reorientation.
The relationship between the thermal and orbital evolution of planets and moons.
Team Members:
Alex Patthoff, Angela Stickle, Emily Martin
Kirtland Robinson
Organic Nitrogen Compounds
as Temperature, pH, and
Redox Indicators for
Icy Ocean Worlds
Kirtland Robinson
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Expertise:
Habitability, Hydrothermal Experiments, Reaction Kinetics, Mechanisms, Thermodynamic Equilibrium, Metabolic Energetics
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Organic Compounds as Geochemical Indicators
Biography:
My research goal within the Network for Ocean Worlds is to assess the habitability of icy ocean worlds by constraining aqueous geochemical conditions within different regions of their subsurfaces. Specifically, I am developing a framework whereby environmental abundances of organic compounds can be analyzed to determine the temperature, pH, and redox state of the setting in which they formed or through which they were transported. To complete this task I will perform hydrothermal organic experiments, kinetic and thermodynamic modeling, and field sampling, which are supported by my background in physical organic chemistry with a dash of geochemistry. This work will identify different suites of organic reactions and their constituents that can serve as geochemical indicators for environments that span a diversity of conditions.
Karyn Rogers
The DEEP Project: DEtecting Extraterrestrial Piezophiles
in Ocean World Analogs
Leslie Rogers
Quantifying the Effect
of Oceans on the
Atmospheric Composition
of Habitable Water Worlds
Leslie Rogers
University of Chicago
Expertise:
Exoplanets, Planet Interior Structure, Planet Evolution
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Exoplanet Habitability, Exoplanet Bulk Compositions, Connections between oceans and atmospheres
Biography:
Leslie Rogers is an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Her research focusses on theoretical and numerical studies of exoplanets that are Neptune-size and smaller. She has developed models for low-mass planet interior structure and evolution and has applied them to constrain planet bulk compositions, to evaluate planet formation scenarios, to explore the possibilities for surface liquid water oceans on distant exoplanets, and to constrain the fraction of planets that are rocky as a function of planet size. Rogers has served on the Hubble Space Telescope Exoplanet Advisory Committee, and on the Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) Science and Technology Definition Team. She earned an Honours BSc in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Ottawa in 2006, and a PhD in Physics from MIT in 2012. She has been awarded a NASA Hubble Fellowship, NASA Sagan Fellowship, and RCSA Cottrell Scholar Award.
Team Members:
Nadia Marounina, Eliza Kempton, Jack Lissauer, Fei Xu
Annette Rowe
Understanding the Interactions and Energy Transfer Between the Lithosphere and Biosphere in a Marine-like Terrestrial Serpentinizing System
Annette Rowe
University of Cincinnati
Expertise:
Serpentinization, Microbiology, Geomicrobiology
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Biomarkers, Microbiology of Extreme Environments, Life in Ocean Worlds Analogs
Biography:
My research focuses on the physiology of chemolithoautotrophic organism, especially those that use minerals as a source or sink for electrons. My work bridges studying environmental systems, that are often analog ecosystems for other ocean worlds, and culturing microbes from these environments to understand their physiology in a lab setting. I started this work as a postdoc with Ken Nealson, Jan Amend and Moh El-Naggar as part of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, Life Underground Team. I am currently an Assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati.
Britney Schmidt
Ella Sciamma-O'Brien
Integrated laboratory, modeling
and observational investigations
of the condensation of benzene
on Titan's stratospheric aerosols
Ella Sciamma-O'Brien
NASA Ames Research Center
Team Members
Laura Iraci, Erika Barth, Sandrine Vinatier, Farid Salama, David Dubois
Jennifer Scully
Detailed Geologic Mapping of Pwyll and Manannán Impact Craters: Indicators of Europa’s Ice Shell Thickness
Jennifer Scully
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NOW Relevant Research Interests
Geomorphology of impact craters on Europa and deriving implications for ice shell thickness; landing site reconnaissance and/or selection for ocean worlds
Expertise
Planetary geology; geomorphic analysis; geologic mapping; Europa; Ceres
Biography
Dr. Scully is a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her scientific research focuses on Ceres, Europa, Vesta and other planetary bodies through geologic mapping, geomorphologic analysis of impact craters and mass wasting deposits, analysis of structural features (e.g. fractures/faults) and laboratory experiments. She is also involved in mission formulation, especially planning landing and/or sampling site reconnaissance and/or selection for Europa Clipper, the Europa Lander mission concept and Ceres lander and/or sampling mission concepts.
Jeff Seewald
Everett Shock
The Habitability Calculator
Mark Simons
Sven Simon
Sven Simon
Georgia Institute of Technology
Expertise:
Moon-plasma interactions, numerical simulations, energetic particle bombardment
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
I am interested in studying how the climate conditions on Titan can contribute to habitable conditions, both at the surface and in the subsurface.
Biography:
Sven Simon’s research mainly focuses on the interaction of the planets, asteroids, moons and comets of our solar system with the magnetized plasmas incident upon them. Since 2004 he has studied the plasma interactions of Saturn's largest satellites Titan, Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Enceladus as well as the Jovian moons Callisto and Europa by applying numerical hybrid simulations, energetic particle tracing, and advanced analytical modeling. He also has 15 years of experience in the analysis of magnetometer observations of moon-plasma interactions (especially from Titan and Enceladus). Sven Simon is a Co-I of the RPWI instrument that will be mounted upon the JUICE spacecraft.
Mark Skidmore
Pablo Sobron
Pablo Sobron
Impossible Sensing and SETI Institute
Expertise:
Laser, robotics, exploration, extreme, analogues, spectroscopy, perception, data, analytics, missions, solar system
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Titan, Europa, Enceladus, astrobiology, robotics, exploration, missions
Biography:
Pablo is a recognized expert in laser spectroscopic technologies, which his research often applies in the context of robotic Earth and planetary exploration. He has over 15 years of expertise in laser spectroscopy. Pablo is a Co-Investigator or Collaborator on all planetary exploration Raman spectroscopic investigations that are currently scheduled for flight: Mars 2020’s SuperCam and SHERLOC and ESA’s ExoMars RLS. He led the development and testing of early concepts and prototypes of the ExoMars RLS instrument. Pablo has also led or taken part in 20+ technology demonstrations in terrestrial analog sites in 6 continents.
He has published 100+ scientific contributions in topics related to laser spectroscopy. Pablo has led and participated in the development and demonstration of over a dozen concepts and prototypes of field spectroscopic systems and has developed analytic techniques for data processing and scientific interpretation. Pablo holds two NASA Group Achievement Awards (2014, Planetary Lake Lander Project; 2013, MSL Science Office Development and Operations) for his contributions to science and technology advancements for the robotic exploration of the solar system.
Team Members:
Evan Eshelman
Jason Soderblom
The Impact of Titan's Impacts
Jason Soderblom
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Expertise:
Data analysis; Optical remote sensing; Spectroscopy; Photometry; Mission and instrument development
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Impact cratering on Titan and the formation of transient pocket of impact melt (of water ice); Linking the geology and composition of Europa’s surface features to the history of that material.
Biography:
Dr. Jason Soderblom is a Research Scientist in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests span the solar system, from the physical properties of the Moon’s lithosphere to the dynamics of Titan’s atmosphere. He generally works with optical remote sensing data, both images and spectra, though he also works with other data types, including gravity and radar data.
Jason is a Co-I of the Europa Clipper Europa Imaging System (EIS) and Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE) teams and the Dragonfly team. He is helping to develop the CAESAR (Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return) mission, a SIMPLEX-class comet flyby mission, and the Electronic Life-detection Instrument for Enceladus/Europa instrument.
Team Members:
Alexander Hayes, Brandon Johnson, Catherine Neish, Jordan Steckloff, Shigeru Wakita, Jahnavi Shah, Joshua Hedgepeth, Leah Sacks
Krista Soderlund
Europa Clipper
Krista Soderlund
University of Texas at Austin
Expertise:
Planetary interiors, ocean worlds, fluid dynamics, dynamos
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Ocean circulation, ice-ocean-seafloor coupling, magnetic field generation (induced and intrinsic), ice shell geodynamics
Biography:
Krista Soderlund is a planetary geophysicist broadly interested in fluid dynamic processes. With more than 15 years of experience, she focuses on ocean dynamics and ice shell properties of icy satellites as well as planetary magnetic fields. Krista is a member of the REASON investigation on NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission and an Ocean Worlds and Dwarf Planets panel member of the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey.
Alejandro Soto
Alejandro Soto
Southwest Research Institute
Expertise:
Atmospheres Modeling Instruments
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
I am interested in studying how the climate conditions on Titan can contribute to habitable conditions, both at the surface and in the subsurface.
Biography:
I am a planetary scientist and aerospace engineer working at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, CO. For almost two decades, I have been involved in the exploration of our Solar System, either as an engineer or as a scientist. In that time, I have become fascinated with understanding the physics of the atmospheres that envelope some of our terrestrial and icy worlds. In particular, my research focuses on the atmospheres of Mars and Titan. My research into Titan, an ocean world, focuses on how the thermodynamics of the methane/ethane lakes affects the atmospheric and climate dynamics of Titan.
Joseph Spitale
Systematic Characterization of Jet and Curtain Eruptions on Enceladus
William Stone
THOR (Thermal High-voltage
Ocean-penetrator Research platform)
Jennifer Stern
Jennifer Stern
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Expertise:
Stable isotopes, Mars, nitrogen cycle, astrobiology, mass spectrometry, planetary analog field work
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Underwater mass spectrometry, field deployment of Ocean Worlds instrumentation, terrestrial analogs of Ocean Worlds
Biography:
I am a Planetary Geochemist at NASA Goddard specializing in the geochemical cycling of bio-essential elements such as carbon and nitrogen in planetary environments and instrument development for geochemical measurements on planetary surfaces and oceans. While I spend a lot of time thinking about Mars as a Mars Science Laboratory and Sample Analysis at Mars team member, my background is actually in Earth environmental geochemistry, particularly in trace gas and aqueous chemistry and stable isotopes. I run a stable isotope laboratory in the Planetary Environments group at Goddard. I am also the Payload Development Lead for the Gas Chromatograph on the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DrAMS). As the Field Lead for Goddard's Ocean Worlds Science Exploration and Analogs (OSEAN) group, I am interested in terrestrial analogs for Ocean Worlds and have spent several field seasons in Greenland and Svalbard, Norway.
Jonathan Toner
The Composition and Habitability
of Enceladus' Ocean
Melissa Ugelow
Laboratory Studies on the Chemical, Optical, and Physical Properties of Titan's Cassini CIRS-Observed Stratospheric Ice Clouds
Melissa Ugelow
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Team Members:
Carrie Anderson, Morgan Cable, Robert Hodyss, Tuan Vu, Mathieu Choukroun
Steve Vance
Steve Vance
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Expertise:
Geophysics, Habitability, Thermodynamics, Aqueous Geochemistry, High Pressure, Water-rock Interactions, Seismology, Gravity, Magnetic Induction,
Water-rock Interactions, Ocean circulation, Europa Clipper
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
How can emerging insights in Earth oceanography guide the exploration of icy ocean worlds in the solar system and beyond. For example, coupling between ocean circulation and melting/freezing ice will affect the density and salinity structure of the ocean. How does that affect the global transport of heat and water-rock interaction at the seafloor?
Biography:
Ocean worlds in the solar system challenge our concepts of “Earthlike” processes. Dr. Vance over the last two decades has coupled thermodynamic data and material properties with geophysical modeling to examine the workings of the interiors of icy ocean worlds. This combined approach has suggested previously unrecognized phenomena in deep oceans and high-pressure ice layers—e.g., compositional layering, steep oceanic temperature gradients—which might be observed by the planned Europa Clipper and JUICE missions to Jupiter’s moons. Vance’s PlanetProfile interior structure model is ideally suited to exploring the self-consistent parameter space of interior properties (e.g. density, electrical conductivity, composition, and thermal state) for icy ocean worlds.
Team Members:
Mohit Melwani Daswani
Phase relations of salt-H2O solutions at high pressure: Implications for the icy worlds
Joseph Westlake
Cold Ion Outflow at Titan
Dale P Winebrenner
Dale P Winebrenner
University of Washington
Expertise:
Electromagnetism, remote sensing, glaciology, melt probes
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Icy moons and terrestrial analogs
Biography:
Principal Physicist at the Applied Physics Laboratory - University of Washington and Research Professor in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences
Xinting Yu
Xinting Yu
University of California, Santa Cruz
Expertise
Titan, material characterization, exoplanet atmospheres, aeolian process
NOW Relevant Research Interests
Titan, exoplanet atmospheres
Biography
I earned my bachelor's degree in space physics with honors from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2014. I did my PhD in planetary science at Johns Hopkins University, and my thesis is on understanding aeolian sediment transport on Saturn's moon Titan. I am currently a 51 Pegasi b postdoc fellow at University of California Santa Cruz with a research focus on exoplanet atmospheres.
Kris Zacny
Kris Zacny
Honeybee Robotics
https://honeybeerobotics.com/about-us/team/
Expertise:
Drilling, Sampling
NOW Relevant Research Interests:
Technology for drilling, sampling, sample acquisition and processing, instrument deployments
Biography:
Dr. Kris Zacny is Vice President of Exploration Technology at Honeybee Robotics. His expertise includes sample acquisition and processing, drilling, space mining, and geotechnical systems. In his previous capacity as an engineer in South African mines, Dr. Zacny managed numerous mining projects and production divisions. Dr. Zacny received his PhD (UC Berkeley, 2005) in Geotechnical Engineering with an emphasis on Extraterrestrial Drilling and Mining, ME (UC Berkeley, 2001) in Petroleum Engineering with emphasis on Drilling and Materials Science, and BSc cum laude (U. Cape Town, 1997) in Mechanical Engineering. He has participated in several Antarctic, Arctic, Atacama, and Greenland expeditions. Dr Zacny has over 200 publications, he has been a PI/Co-I on over 100 projects, he has over 40 NASA New Technology Records and four NASA Group Achievement Awards. Dr. Zacny is a Principal Investigator on Europa hybrid drill system called SLUSH (Search for Life Using Submersible Heater drill).