Space and Planetary Geophysics
Exploring, monitoring and understanding the geophysics of planets and planetary bodies
Planetary Radar
Mines Geophysicists use planetary radar observations to study the physical properties of asteroids. Through numerical simulations of radar scattering and high-resolution 3D topography derived from space mission data, researchers are improving our understanding of these mysterious objects. (Image left: Courtesy of NASA)
Planetary Seismology
Mines Geophysicists monitor the seismicity of Mars in order to understand its internal structures. With high performance computing and 3D simulations, researchers are doing cutting edge research that will help us understand evolutionary and climate change processes.
Radar Sounding
Mines Geophysicists use orbital radar sounding observations to image the internal structure of the polar ice caps on Mars. Using state-of-the-art techniques in terrestrial seismic imaging, researchers are creating the highest resolution model of these ice caps to date, illuminating ancient climate processes on Mars. (Image left: Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Sapienza University of Rome.)
Why Study Planetary Geophysics?
- Discover the universe
- Participate in international team collaborations
- Do cutting-edge research
- Establish yourself in an economically bright field
Global map of Marsquake locations as detected by NASA’s InSight Mission (Giardini et al., 2020). White shaded regions show the range of epicentral distances. Red to yellow ellipsoids are the estimated locations of three large Marsquakes: S0173a, S0235b and S0183a. The inset to the right shows a map view of the epicentral area of the three event locations relative to the InSight landing site (yellow triangle), and associated with main surface fault systems for Cerberus Fossae shown as the red lines.
Techniques & Tools
- 3D Simulations
- High Performance Computing
- Orbital Radar
- Low-frequency Radar
- Remote-sensing
- Ground-based Telescopes
- Asteroid Scans
- Topography Models
Courtesy of NASA
Meet our Space Researchers
Ebru Bozdag
Paul Sava
In the News
Bozdağ’s team featured for work in planetary seismology
Dr. Ebru Bozdağ and her computational and global seismology team have been featured by the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) for their work in planetary seismology. The team, which uses the Frontera supercomputer at the TACC has been using full-waveform inversion...
Dream Big
Researching the Mars polar caps has been a fascinating experience that has pushed me to consider innovative problem-solving methods when studying something millions of miles away. Investigating the planet’s surface properties has made a distant world feel familiar.