July 12 2020 at 7:30 – Remote Sensing and Spaceborn Planetary Observations

Join NOVAC at 7:30pm on Sunday, July 12 for our monthly meeting which will be held online.

Location: Online https://meet.google.com/qns-wmyk-tbo

Speaker: Dr. Dennis Reuter

Using spaceborne systems to carry out observations of atmospheric and surface properties of the objects in our solar system (including the Earth) provides a wealth of information about the processes that are occurring now and those that have occurred in the past.  They are essential for everything from providing accurate weather forecasts on the Earth to understanding the formation and history of our solar system and ourselves.  When building the instruments required for this remote sensing and operating the systems that carry them, unexpected events can occur that provide challenges (and sleepless nights) for the teams involved.  In this presentation, I will give some examples of these types of events, how they were overcome, and show some of the outstanding images and science obtained afterwards. These examples will include the Ralph visible and short wave infrared imager on the New Horizons Mission to the Pluto System, the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on the Landsat 8 Earth orbiting mission, and the OVIRS visible/infrared spectrometer on the OSIRIS-REx mission to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.

Dr. Retuer, as well as being a recognized expert in spacecraft and aircraft remote sensing instrument design is the Principal Investigator on high-resolution infrared laboratory spectroscopic studies of planetary and astrophysical species. His additional areas of investigation and expertise include: Expertise in the fields of atmospheric and surface radiative transfer and remote sensing, microwave and infrared molecular spectroscopy, tunable diode laser (TDL) spectroscopy, Fourier transform spectroscopy, and infrared astronomy.  Analyzed spectra in terms of comprehensive quantum mechanical models to obtain molecular parameters of astronomical and theoretical interest.  Analyzed astrophysical data to obtain structural information (e.g. composition, temperature etc.) from planetary asteroidal and cometary bodies.  Developed techniques for retrieval of atmospheric and surface parameters from infrared and microwave radiance data obtained from polar orbiting and geostationary earth satellites.  Well over 100 refereed publications.

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