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"The Solar System Revealed by Remote Sensing"
THE JOHN C. LINDSAY MEMORIAL LECTURE
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A new era in the exploration of our Solar System is now taking place thanks to recent advancements in space astronomy and orbital instrumentation that explore the atmospheres and surfaces of objects in our Solar System. For instance, JWST’s extraordinary sensitivity and instrumentation allow for sensitive searches for the building blocks of life and to test for habitability, also enabling new discoveries on small bodies to giant planets across our solar system.
When exploring Mars, the combination of orbital, rover/landers and observatory investigations permit an unprecedented and cohesive view of the processes active on the planet. Mars has seasons and weather that are in many ways similar to those that we are familiar with here on Earth. Yet, there are also important differences between the two worlds that produce types of weather on Mars unlike anything seen on the Earth, including huge changes in temperature from day to night and massive dust storms that can cover then entire planet.
In this talk, we will present several key findings about our Solar System as recently determined with JWST, focusing on Europa, Enceladus, and primordial bodies, and we will describe how remote sensing using Mars observations has transformed our understanding of the climate and evolution of our neighboring planet.
About the Speakers
Dr. Michael Smith is an expert in the analysis of atmospheric observations and radiative transfer modeling, specializing in the development and use of algorithms for the retrieval of atmospheric parameters from spacecraft observations of Mars. Dr. Smith has participated on almost every mission to Mars since the early nineties including Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Spirit and Opportunity rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Curiosity rover, the Trace Gas Orbiter, the Emirates Mars Mission, and the Perseverance rover.
Dr. Geronimo Villanueva utilizes remote sensing and spectroscopy to search for astrobiology-relevant species on Mars, Venus, Ocean Worlds (Europa, Enceladus), primordial bodies (comets) and in distant exoplanets. Dr. Villanueva leads a widely used modeling tool called the Planetary Spectrum Generator (PSG, psg.gsfc.nasa.gov), and he is the Associate Director for Strategic Science of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA-GSFC. He is also the co-lead Scientist of the Comet Interceptor MIRMIS instrument, Co-Investigator of the ExoMars/TGO mission, and leader for Mars and Ocean Worlds studies (GTO) for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).