Analysis of Multispectral Data Sets of Planetary Surfaces

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity focuses on analyzing observations of planetary surfaces, satellites, and small bodies obtained by ground-based and spacecraft instruments. Researchers will fit scattering models to photometrically accurate measurements to understand surface structure and composition of both rocky and icy surfaces. Objects under study include icy satellites of outer planets, Titan, comets, asteroids, Pluto, Kuiper Belt Objects, Centaurs, and the Moon. Data sets include observations from the Visual Infrared Mapping Spectrometer on Cassini, New Horizons, and various ground-based telescopes including the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Mountain. This research aims to understand surface evolution and determine whether dominant processes are exogenic or endogenic.