- Leter from Dr. Julie Brisset (Principal Investigator of the Arecibo Observatory)13 Sep, 2022
- Arecibo Deputy Principal Scientist to Explore the Cosmos with the JWST02 Sep, 2022
- Letter from the Director22 Aug, 2022
- Piercing through the Clouds of Venus with Arecibo Radar17 Aug, 2022
- Summer greetings from the Facilities and Operations Team!17 Aug, 2022
- Arecibo Observatory at the Small Bodies Assessment Group12 Aug, 2022
- Meet the 2022 Arecibo Observatory REU students!11 Aug, 2022
- Meet Luis R. Rivera Gabriel, Research Intern in the Planetary Radar Group09 Aug, 2022
- Updates from the 2022 CEDAR Workshop in Austin, TX09 Aug, 2022
- Insights into the AAS Conference from AO Analyst Anna McGilvray08 Aug, 2022
- American Astronomical Society’s 240th Meeting: Plenary Lecture Building the Future of Radio Science with the Arecibo Observatory by Dr. Héctor Arce. 28 Jul, 2022
- TRENDS 202227 Jul, 2022
- Advancing IDEA in Planetary Science 27 Jul, 2022
- The Arecibo Observatory: An Engine for Science and Scientists in Puerto Rico and Beyond27 Jul, 2022
- Cryogenic Frontend work for the 12m telescope entering phase II21 Jul, 2022
- Remote Optical Facility Updates20 Jul, 2022
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