Geological Evolution of Major Shield Volcanoes on the Moon Using Contemporary Lunar Mission Datasets

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 studying the geological evolution of major shield volcanoes on the Moon. Volcanism has played a significant role in the crustal and thermal evolution of the Moon, and this research will investigate shield volcanoes identified on the near side of the Moon including Rümker, Gardner, Prinz, Aristarchus, Kepler, Hortensius, Marius Hills, and Cauchy features. The candidate will use contemporary lunar mission datasets including LRO Diviner Thermal data, Chandrayaan-1 Moon Mineralogy Mapper data, LROC cameras, and LOLA SLDEM data to understand the volcanic history, composition, thermophysical properties, morphology, and topography of these shield volcanoes. The research will involve generating compositional maps, deriving mineralogical abundances, creating high-resolution 3D topographic maps, and mapping structures to understand tectonics and evolution. The selected fellow will work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an independent researcher and will learn about mission formulation, instrumentation, and be part of a group studying lunar science questions.