Lunar and Planetary Institute
Lunar and Planetary Institute
January 2011 Scientific Staff Highlights Archive

Scientific Staff Highlights


LPSC Program Committee

Several members of the LPI Science staff participated in the Program Committee meeting, in preparation for the upcoming Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Participants included J. Gross, J. Filiberto, C. Visscher, A. Wittmann, O. Abramov, G. Galgana, Q. Fu, P. Schenk, and P. McGovern.

LPI NLSI (Center for Lunar Science and Exploration) Team Meeting

The CLSE held a team meeting, hosted by its director David Kring. The meeting included WebEx participation from off-site team members. Included were science presentations by A. Nahm, T. Ohman, O. Abramov, W. Kiefer, P. McGovern. D. Kring, and A. Wittmann.


Invited Presentations

Dr. David Kring presented a talk, “The Chicxulub Impact Event and Implications for the Evolution of Life on Earth,” at the University of Florida, on January 20th, 2011.”

Dr. David Kring presented a talk Calamitous Climate Change Produced by Impacting Asteroids and Comets as part of the LPI Cosmic Visions Lecture Series, on Jan. 27, 2011

Training Course in Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

Dr. Celeste Mercer participated in a training course and practicum on secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) for chemical analyses of geological and extraterrestrial materials. The course was held at the SIMS laboratory at the Arizona State Universtiy, Tempe, AZ.


Workshop on Lunar Tourism

Dr. Paul Spudis attended and participated in a workshop on protocols for commercial visits to the Apollo and Luna landing sites on the Moon. The workshop was held at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral FL


LPI Science Staff Research Progress – Jan 2011

Galgana, G., McGovern P., & Grosfils E. (2011) Evolution of Large Venusian Volcanoes: Insights from Coupled Models of Lithospheric Flexure and Magma Reservoir Pressurization. Journal of Geophysical Research 116, in press.

Sandu C., Lenardic A., O'Neill C.J., and Cooper C.M.. (2011) Earth's evolving stress state and the past, present, and future stability of cratonic lithosphere. International Geology Review, DOI: 10.1080/00206814.2010.527672.

Keefner J.W., Mackwell S.J., Kohlstedt D.L., and Heidelbach F. (2011) Dependence of the creep of dunite on oxygen fugacity: Implications for viscosity variations in Earth's mantle, Journal of Geophysical Research, in press, doi:10.1029/2010JB00748.

Schenk P., Hamilton D.P., Johnson R.E., McKinnon W.B., Paranicas C., Schmidt J., and Showalter, M.A. (2011) Plasma, plumes, and rings: Saturn system dynamics as recorded in global color patterns on its midsize icy satellites. Icarus 211, 740757, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.11.003.

Weirich J.R., Wittmann A., Isachsen C.E., Rumble D., Swindle T.A., and Kring D.A. (2011) The Ar-Ar age and petrology of Miller Range 05029: Evidence for a large impact in the very early solar system. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 45, 1868–1888.


Lunar and Planetary Institute
3600 Bay Area Blvd.
Houston, TX  77058
281-486-2100

The LPI is managed by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), a national, nonprofit consortium of universities chartered in 1969 by the National Academy of Sciences at the request of NASA. USRA operates programs and institutes focused on research and education in most of the disciplines engaged in space-related science and engineering. Institutional membership in USRA now stands at 105 leading research universities.

The LPI is operated by USRA under a cooperative agreement with the Science Mission Directorate of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  

Scientific Staff Highlights Archive

Last updated March 29, 2011