Weekly Space Hangout: Apr 24, 2019 – Nathaniel Putzig and Gareth Morgan of the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) Sounder Team on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

Hosts:
Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)
Dr. Pamela Gay (astronomycast.com / cosmoquest.org / @starstryder)
Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier )
Dr. Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg & ChartYourWorld.org)
Dr. Paul M. Sutter (pmsutter.com / @PaulMattSutter)

Dr. Nathaniel Putzig (Than) is a Senior Scientist with the Planetary Science Institute (PSI), and he serves as the US Team Leader for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Shallow Radar (SHARAD). Than has led numerous SHARAD studies, including 3-D imaging of the interior of both polar caps and landing-site studies for the Phoenix lander, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, and the InSight lander. Presently, he is co-leading (with PSI Research Scientist Gareth Morgan) a NASA-funded project to map buried water ice throughout the northern hemisphere of Mars using radar, thermal, imagery, and other data. This work supports selection of future human landing sites, where the ice will serve as an local resource for Mars explorers.

Dr. Gareth Morgan is a Research Scientist at PSI and is a specialist in the geologic analysis of planetary bodies with radar. Gareth is a Co-I on both the SHARAD radar sounder on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mini-RF radar imager on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. A major focus of Gareth’s Mars research has been the analysis of periglacial features and linking their formation to shifts in the martian climate. To support his work, Gareth has undertaken multiple field excursions to the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica.

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