- Management Update: Statement from the Director (April 7, 2021)07 Apr, 2021
- Observatorio de Arecibo recibe cartas de apoyo y aliento de estudiantes en la Florida01 Apr, 2021
- Arecibo Observatory Staff Receives Letters of Support and Encouragement from Schoolchildren in Florida01 Apr, 2021
- Reflecting on the Legacy and the Future of the Arecibo Observatory01 Apr, 2021
- Arecibo Hunts Down “Spider” Pulsars24 Mar, 2021
- Education and Public Outreach Highlights (January – March 2021)24 Mar, 2021
- UCF Graduate Course Dives Deep into the Science, Engineering, & Operation of the Arecibo Observatory 24 Mar, 2021
- Preparing for Human Exploration of Mars: Missions to Earth-based Analog Sites 17 Mar, 2021
- Inspiring the Future of Space Exploration 17 Mar, 2021
- New Research on Photocatalysts for Clean Energy and Clean Waters08 Mar, 2021
- CARLA Instrument Container Arrives at Arecibo Observatory03 Mar, 2021
- Arecibo Observatory Contributes to the Exploration of Black Holes Started by this Year’s Nobel Prize Winners in Physics19 Nov, 2020
- UCF Delivers Engineering Options for Arecibo Observatory (AO)16 Nov, 2020
- Management Update (October 12, 2020) by Director Eng. Francisco Cordova13 Oct, 2020
- Summer Student Assists in Development of Newest AO Facility01 Oct, 2020
- STAR Academy: Training the Next Generation of STEM Professionals 29 Sep, 2020
AO Colloquium: Dr. Alain Herique
Byadmin27 March 2020 Planetary
| Planetary Science | AO Colloquium: Dr. Alain Herique |
On January 28th, the AO Colloquium Series featured Dr. Alain Herique of the Institut de Planetologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) University Grenoble Alpes in France.
Dr. Herique’s research focuses on understanding the internal structure of comets and asteroids using spacecraft radar systems. Such measurements help us to better understand the history of the small bodies since their accretion in the early Solar System.
Specifically, he emphasizes the need to use radar to measure the regolith properties on the surface, and to use bistatic radar to probe the deep interiors. This measurement was successfully done at the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using the CONSERT instrument on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta Mission, which was co-supervised by Dr. Herique.
During the AO colloquium, Dr. Herique discussed the future of such space-based measurements. He focused on the expected scientific return of tomography measurements that will be made by ESA’s Hera mission to the asteroid Didymos and its small moon. Hera will provide follow-up measurements of the targets after NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission intentionally impacts the moonlet as a planetary defense technology demonstration.
“Dr. Herique was invited to discuss asteroid radar tomography, which intersects with our own studies of the near-surface properties of asteroids using Arecibo,” said Dr. Dylan Hickson, postdoctoral researcher at AO. “We made a lot of progress discussing how AO could work with future spacecraft to complete bistatic tomography experiments of asteroids.”
“We made a lot of progress discussing how AO could work with future spacecraft to complete bistatic tomography experiments of asteroids.” - Dr. Dylan Hickson, Postdoctoral Researcher at AO.Dr. Herique agreed. "It is a pleasure to collaborate with the group at Arecibo. We have plenty of joint fields of interest: small bodies’ physical properties; dielectric lab measurements and modeling to estimate composition and porosity; propagation and radar backscattering modeling; and, of course, radar techniques and processing." He added, “It's all a matter for discussion and collaboration”.
Watch the interview with Dr. Alain Herique
January 28, 2020: DIRECT OBSERVATIONS OF SMALL BODIES’ INTERIOR WITH RADAR ONBOARD PLANETARY PROBES by Dr. Alain Herique
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Article written by Dr. Tracy Becker - AO Collaborator / SwRI Research Scientist
Contact: tbecker@swri.edu |
Colloquium Coordinator |
Keywords: arecibo, observatory,Herique, colloquium, dart, esa, solar, system, rosetta, mission, Grenoble, France, Churyumov, Gerasimenko