Jolliff awarded Shoemaker Distinguished Scientist Medal
Bradley Jolliff, the Scott Rudolph Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences and director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, has been awarded the 2020 Eugene Shoemaker Distinguished Scientist Medal by NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, recognizing significant contributions to planetary science throughout his career.
Arrokoth close-up reveals how planetary building blocks were constructed
William B. McKinnon, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, led one of three new studies that together provide a far more complete picture of the composition and origin of Arrokoth. The new research published in Science points to the resolution of a longstanding scientific controversy about how such primitive planetary building blocks called planetesimals were formed.
Rover retrospective
RIP Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. But the geosciences data they collected will live on at Washington University, under the care of a team of archivists in Arts & Sciences. The data includes details about both rovers’ every move as well as many images that helped this space mission capture the public’s imagination.
Investigating water ice, space weathering on the Moon
Under a five-year, $7 million cooperative agreement led by Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, research associate professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, researchers will investigate fundamental questions at the intersection of space science and human space exploration.
Arvidson, rover team recognized by National Space Club
The team that worked on the Mars exploration rovers Spirit and Opportunity received the Distinguished Science Award from the Huntsville, Ala., chapter of the National Space Club. The award recognizes outstanding contributions in research and discovery that expand knowledge and understanding of space. Raymond Arvidson, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, is the mission’s deputy principal investigator.
Climate scientist Konecky named Packard Fellow
Bronwen Konecky, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, is among 22 early-career scientists and engineers across the United States honored Oct. 15 as a 2019 Packard Fellow.
Konecky wins American Geophysical Union early career award
Bronwen Konecky, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, works at the cutting edge of an emerging research area that combines paleoclimate data with climate models. She received the Nanne Weber Early Career Award from the Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology Section of the American Geophysical Union.
Understanding the connection between tektites and the moon
Arts & Sciences researcher Kun Wang studies the melted rock that cools into tektites after a meteorite strikes Earth to gain insights into the giant impact event that formed the moon. His latest research was published Aug. 15 in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
On Apollo legacy, and why we should return to the moon
Humans have already learned much from the very first moon samples collected by the Apollo program astronauts. As NASA plans for its next manned mission by 2024, a leading lunar expert shares his science priorities for the return: “We need to learn how to live and work off Earth and beyond the low Earth orbit.”
Water drives explosive eruptions; here’s why magmas are wetter than we thought
New research from Washington University in St. Louis provides compelling evidence that magmas may be wetter than once thought. The work led by experimental geochemists including Michael J. Krawczynski in Arts & Sciences is published in the July 2 issue of the journal American Mineralogist.
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