Suzanne Elizabeth Smrekar | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Sue |
| Alma mater | Brown University,Southern Methodist University |
| Known for | MarsInSight lander,Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter |
Suzanne E. Smrekaris an American geophysicist and Deputy Principal Investigator for the MarsInSight lander[1] and the principal investigator for the plannedVERITAS space probe to Venus.[2]
Smrekar obtained her B.S. degree in geophysics and mathematics fromBrown University in 1984, and her doctorate in geophysics fromSouthern Methodist University in 1990. She was a postdoctoral researcher atMIT before joining theJet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1992.[3]
Smrekar and colleague Ellen Stofan reported inScience in 1997 that Venus' heat loss was caused by volcanic activity and formations specific to Venus.[4] As Venus has no plate tectonics like Earth, she and others are attempting to study itsvolcanalogy to draw better conclusions about the formation of Earth.[5] Smrekar and an international team of researchers presented the Venus Emissivity Mapper (VEM) at a conference in 2018; this device scans the planet's surface at specific wavelengths to record the mineral composition, and uses other channels to determine cloud cover, weather, interference, and volcanic activity.[6]
Smrekar remains a team member of the joint Brown – MIT NASA Lunar Science Institute.[7] She has jointly written several articles for the Encyclopedia of the Solar System.[1]
Smrekar has formed part of multiple NASA teams dedicated to exploring the Solar System. In 1999, she was involved with the design of the ground-penetrant micro-laboratoriesDeep Space 2 that "hitchhiked" on theMars Polar Lander.[8] She was Deputy Project Leader for theMars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO),[9][10][11] which, in addition to monitoring the eventual descent for multiple Martian instrument landings, used its shallow- and deep-penetration radar to uncover a pool of solid carbon dioxide at Mars' South Pole – "equivalent to Lake Superior."[12] Direct observation of the Martianlithosphere led to some of the first accurate measurements of the interior temperature of the planet.[13] HerMagellan probe uncovered newly-active geology on the planet.[14][15] She designed the HP3 and GEMSinstrument packages for theInSight mission,[16] which commenced in 2016.[17] Smrekar served as Deputy Principal Investigator in addition to constructing much of the ground-penetrant instrumentation for InSight. She lightly referred to needing to obtain sub-surface results of Martian geography and geology as understanding "...the whole enchilada" of non-Earth planets.[18]
On 14 June 1983, Smrekar discovered asteroid 6819 McGarvey atPalomar Observatory. She named it after her mother, Flora McGarvey Smrekar (1924–1977).[19]
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VERITAS also will map infrared emissions from Venus' surface to map its rock type, which is largely unknown, and determine whether active volcanoes are releasing water vapor into the atmosphere. Suzanne Smrekar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, is the principal investigator.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)| International | |
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