LPL Newsletter: February 2018
Thursday, February 1, 2018
This month, we highlight two stories that show the strength of LPL faculty and alumni.
The first is about the competition for NASA’s next New Frontiers mission (the last one was OSIRIS-REx). Two missions were selected as finalists: CAESAR (a comet sample return) includes LPL’s Dante Lauretta as mission sample scientist and Tom Zega as a co-investigator; and Dragonfly, a mission to Titan led by LPL alumni Elizabeth Turtle as Principal Investigator (PI) and Jason Barnes as Deputy PI. Science team members Sarah Hörst, Catherine Neish, Juan Lora, and Jani Radebaugh are also alums; team member Ralph Lorenz held positions as a post-doc and Research Scientist at LPL.
The second story is news about ice near the surface of Mars, based on results from HiRISE (led by LPL’s Alfred McEwen). The lead author is LPL alum Colin Dundas and LPL's Shane Byrne is a co-author.
If you were forwarded this link but aren’t on the mailing list and you would like to receive this newsletter (as well as the more detailed newsletter, announcements of events, and other occasional announcements), please let us know by using the contact form here.
Timothy D. Swindle, Ph.D.
Director and Department Head
Steep Slopes on Mars Reveal Structure of Buried Ice
Friday, January 12, 2018
Newly discovered sheets of water ice just beneath the surface on Mars hold clues to the planet's climate history, and could perhaps even yield drinking water for future astronauts.
UA in the Running for a New NASA Mission
Thursday, December 21, 2017
If selected, the CAESAR mission would return a sample from a comet to determine its origin and history. NASA is expected to make its decision between CAESAR and a Saturnian mission in mid-2019.