Research Interests

Planetary Geology

Professor Arvidson directs the Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing Laboratory (EPRSL) on the second floor of the Earth & Planetary Sciences Building. The EPRSL is involved in many aspects of NASA's planetary exploration program, including developing science objectives and plans for missions, participating in mission operations and data analysis, and archiving and distributing data relevant to characterizing and understanding planetary surfaces and interiors. Laboratory personnel have been or are currently involved in NASA's Viking Lander, Mars Global Surveyor, Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit and Opportunity), Phoenix Mars Lander, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity Rover), and the European Space Agency's Mars Express Missions. Arvidson, staff, and students also participated in the Magellan Mission to Venus. Testing of prototype Mars rovers in Earth's deserts in collaboration with colleagues at the NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been another major focus over the past several years, along with close cooperation with scientists and engineers at the JHU/Applied Physics Laboratory on instrumentation and mission concepts for landing on Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars.

The Laboratory is the location of NASA's Planetary Data System Geosciences Node. Laboratory personnel are responsible for creating and distributing science data archives from planetary missions, working closely with the missions to ensure that the archives are complete and well-documented.

Laboratory staff and graduate student research currently focuses primarily on analyses of spaceborne observations of Mars, particularly to understand how the planet has evolved and the extent to which it was habitable. The unraveling of geological processes and defining geochemical cycles of possible biological relevance form the core of the research. The work is supported by key field work in terrestrial analog sites and close cooperation with experts in other fields of research such Professor Jeffrey Catalano's work on aqueous geochemistry and Adjunct Professor Richard Morris' work on ferrous silicate and iron oxide spectroscopy.

Students are also actively involved in the Laboratory as a part of innovative undergraduate courses such as the Pathfinder Program in Environmental Sustainability, in which multidisciplinary approaches to environmental problems are stressed with hands-on experience.

Publications

The Pathfinder Program in Environmental Sustainability; Remote Sensing, Planetary Terramechanics
Pathfinder Program on YouTube