Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing

The Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing Laboratory (EPRSL) is part of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University. Professor Paul Byrne is the director.

Laboratory staff and graduate student researchers focus on surface processes and histories of Earth, Mars, and Venus. Students are also actively involved in the laboratory as a part of undergraduate courses in which multidisciplinary approaches to environmental problems are stressed with plenty of hands-on experience. The Laboratory is the location of NASA's PDS Geosciences Node. Laboratory personnel have been or are involved in NASA's  Mars Global Surveyor, Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rover, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Phoenix Mars Lander, and Mars Science Laboratory Missions. The group is also involved in the European Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter Mission. In addition to selected science tasks, the EPRSL group is responsible for creating and distributing science data archives from planetary missions and individual scientists, working closely with contributors to ensure that the archives are complete and well-documented. All these activities are supported by a computer system that hosts planetary data online for public access through the Geosciences Node.