Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Researcher, Planetary Physics at SWRI

The Department of Space Studies at Southwest Research Institute (Boulder) seeks a postdoctoral researcher to support activities of the Spectral Analysis Working Group of the OSIRIS-REx mission prior to and during spacecraft operations at the asteroid (101955) Bennu. The successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to carry out independent research in the area(s) of solid surface planetary and/or laboratory spectroscopy, and is expected to publish scientific papers on a regular basis. Support the following activities: Automated implementation for the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES) spectral library and software development for the OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) spectral parameters; development of automated methods for integrating results from OTES and OVIRS automated data processing; establishment of protocols for creating 3D map data products, providing uncertainty estimates for mineral abundances and spatial locations, and optimizing confidence levels in maps of detected minerals on Bennu; interaction with other OSIRIS-REx science working groups that ingest spectrally derived data products for use in sample site selection and asteroid regolith characterization.

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