Research in Planetary Physics

The asteroid Eros with the NEAR spacecraft approaching. UCLA is leading a similar space mission to the asteroids Ceres and Vesta. Called DAWN, it will launch in 2006. Image courtesy of NASA.

UCLA provides many opportunities for the study of the dynamics of planetary atmospheres, surfaces and interiors, as well as the origin and evolution of the solar system. Studies and faculty are involved in many past, present, and future planetary spacecraft missions, processing and analyzing data relating to surface and atmospheric properties, topography, gravity, and magnetic fields. UCLA's proximity to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) allows many students to be directly involved in the planning, construction, and operation of planetary spacecraft missions. Theoretical studies of atmospheric, surface, and interior processes as revealed by these missions also make up an important part of the research in planetology at UCLA.

NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter observes the Martian south residual polar cap. Image courtesy of NASA.

The outer solar system is a major focus, with UCLA scientists closely involved with many of the recent new discoveries regarding the Galilean satellites of Jupiter from the Galileo mission and the Cassini mission on its way to Saturn. When Cassini arrives at Saturn in 2004 it will probe the interior of Saturn via the measurement of its gravitational and magnetic fields, image the intricate detail of Saturn's rings, study atmospheric dynamics, photograph the major moons, dropping a probe into the atmosphere to Titan, and explore the extensive magnetic envelope around the planet. The early solar system is another focus, with the UCLA-led Dawn mission, due to launch in 2006, designed to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formations, the asteroids Ceres and Vesta. Meanwhile, the Genesis spacecraft is currently collecting samples of the solar wind which will be brought back and analyzed at UCLA, giving us a precise measure of solar isotopic abundances that will better enable us to understand the compositional variations in meteorites, comets, lunar samples, and planetary atmospheres. UCLA maintains an active program in Mars research through the analysis of data from ongoing spacecraft missions, and the planning of upcoming missions such as NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Scout and Mars Science Laboratory.

Images from numerical simulations of rapidly rotating convection in a thin shell, designed to study flows on the giant planets. Large scale jets similar to those on Jupiter and Saturn are produced. The left image shows the outer boundary velocity pattern, and the right image shows zonal velocity (left) and temperature in the equatorial plane (right). By Prof. J. Aurnou.

Those interested in theoretical planetology will find a wide spectrum of research opportunities at UCLA. Numerical models are used to study the origin and fate of solar system bodies, convection in the mantles and cores of terrestrial planets, magnetic field generation in the interiors of planets and satellites, convection in the rapidly rotating interiors of the giant planets, orbital dynamics of the Galilean satellites, thermal evolution of planets and icy satellites, dynamics of lithospheric deformation, surface dust and ice transport on Mars, circulation of the Martian atmosphere, and tectonics of Mars, Venus, Earth, the Moon, and the Galilean satellites of Jupiter. Laboratory experiments are used to understand convection in rapidly rotating fluids and the dynamo.

More Information

Related Sites:

Dawn Mission Web Site  (http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/dawn)

Galileo Mission Web Site  (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/)

Faculty and Contacts:

Jonathan Aurnou,	Assistant Professor of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
Margaret Kivelson,	Professor, Space Physics
William Newman,	Professor, Planetary Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics
David Paige,	Associate Professor of Planetary Science
Chris Russell,	Professor, Geophysics and Space Physics
Gerald Schubert,	Professor of Geophysics and Planetary Physics