Dr. Cremons designs and tests remote sensing instruments for planetary science applications. He is currently developing a spectroscopic lidar system for lunar volatiles as well as maturing a doppler lidar system for measuring aerosols and winds on Mars. Dr. Cremons also works to develop new techniques and methods that support science and exploration goals in the fields of infrared spectroscopy, optics, and laser physics.
He recently led the optical testing and flight qualification of laser retroreflector arrays for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. These arrays were flown on the SpaceIL Beresheet and ISRO Chandrayaan-2 missions and are manifested on upcoming CLPS missions from Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and Masten Space Systems as well as others. These retroreflector arrays will create a permanent fiducial network of beacons that can be tracked with centimeter precision from lunar orbit with a laser altimeter.
In addition to instrument development, Dr. Cremons is passionate about all aspects of mission design, and has taken part in studies for New Frontiers-class missions to Uranus (JPL Planetary Science Summer School Participant) and Mars (MARLI instrument scientist).
Lunar Flashlight
Science Co-I and lead of instrument model development.
Tunable Mid-infrared Spectropscopic Imaging Lidar for 4D Volatile Mapping
Our objective of this selected ROSES PICASSO project is to develop a widely tunable mid-infrared spectroscopic lidar to perform 4D reflectance experiments regardless of illumination, with the sensitivity to map the abundances of critical lunar volatiles including H2O, CO2, NH3, and H2S at kilometer ranges from the observation site. Each measurement will include a position (X,Y) in the field of view, a time of flight (range), and a reflectance value. The goal of this work is to increase the TRL of the instrument from TRL 2 to TRL 4. Proposed specific tasks include building the spectrometric receiver, performing gated imaging at a range of 1.5 km, and performing system tests over the entire wavelength range of icy lunar simulants under cryogenic vacuum conditions.
Our tunable lidar design is based on two complementary technologies: an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) laser and a gated imaging HgCdTe APD camera. The pulsed laser can be continuously tuned between 2 and 4 microns in wavelength. The HgCdTe APD camera is single photon sensitive and operates with high quantum efficiency over the spectral range from the visible to 4.3 microns. By gating the camera, signals are integrated only when the laser pulses illuminate the scene, which greatly improves the measurement signal to noise ratio. Moving the gate time away from the laser pulses enables passive reflectance measurements using the same system.
This instrument will provide new measurements informing the extent and origin of polar volatile deposits as well their composition and meter-scale distribution. Our technology would provide valuable surface spectroscopic measurements in other planetary applications with challenging illumination conditions. These include diurnal and seasonal cycles of cometary surfaces, where solar insolation drives volatile ice deposition, sublimation, and redistribution as well as generation of the gaseous coma and tail.
Small All-range Lidar (SALi) for Small Body Exploration
Under the ROSES MatISSE program, this effort will mature to TRL 6 a combination science and navigation swath-mapping lidar for small body missions. Dr. Cremons leads the algorithm development portion of this program and acts as the instrument systems engineer. This instrument represents a new class of planetary lidar by combining three technologies (RZPN code modulation, fiber laser, HgCdTe APD) to create a system that is sensitive over six orders of magnitude, allowing it to operate from hundreds of kilometers in range down to the surface. This enables the instrument to provide survey science on approach (spin, body shape), provide sub-meter scale mapping of the body (topography, reflectance, slope, roughness), and act as a guidance and navigation sensor during landing or surface sampling (range, velocity).
Small Lidar for Profiling Wind and Water Vapor from Planetary Landers
Under the ROSES PICASSO program, this effort is to build and test a breadboard lidar system for Doppler wind and water vapor profile retrieval. The system is design for a lander or rover on Mars with an off-zenith, dual-transceiver design to obtain vector winds to the top of the planetary boundary layer. In addition, water vapor absorption lines near 1910 nm will be used to profile water vapor absorption as a function of altitude at all times of day and over the course of a Mars year. Field testing of the breadboard instrument will be done at Mauna Kea Observatory where dry conditions and low atmospheric pressure will be used to simulate Mars surface conditions.
MARLI: Mars Lidar for Wind and Aerosol Measurements from Mars Orbit
Dr. Cremons has worked on both the PICASSO and MatiSSE efforts to mature a direct detection Doppler lidar for global Mars wind retrievals from orbit. Under PICASSO, he co-led the build and testing of the breadboard Doppler lidar in the laboratory at GSFC and the test field campaign at the Goddard Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory to measure wind from aerosol backscattering Earth's atmosphere. He also developed the wind retrieval algorithm for the PICASSO and MatISSE programs. Under MatISSE, Dr. Cremons led the optical and mechanical design of the brassboard/prototype instrument and is currently leading the prototype testing.
Laser Retroreflector Arrays for Commercial Lunar Landers
Dr. Cremons has worked on a small team to design, build, and flight-qualify miniature lunar retroreflector arrays (LRAs) for Lunar Landers under the CLPS program. His work included leading the thermal vacuum, optical, and vibration testing of the arrays including developing an automated optical test system and thermal vacuum test setup. He was one of two GSFC scientists to integrate the LRA on the SpaceIL Beresheet lander in Nov. 2018. He also designed and fabricated vacuum-compatible optical housings to prevent optics contamination between integration and launch.
Refereed
Cremons, D. R. 2022. "The future of lidar in planetary science."
Frontiers in Remote Sensing,
3:
[10.3389/frsen.2022.1042460]
Cremons, D. R., and C. I. Honniball. 2022. "Simulated Lunar Surface Hydration Measurements using Multispectral Lidar at 3 µm."
Earth and Space Science,
9
(8):
e2022EA002277
[10.1029/2022ea002277]
Cremons, D., X. Sun, J. B. Abshire, and E. Mazarico. 2021. "Small PN-Code Lidar for Asteroid and Comet Missions – Receiver Processing and Performance Simulations."
Remote Sensing,
13
(12):
2282
[Full Text (Link)]
[10.3390/rs13122282]
Sun, X., D. Cremons, E. Mazarico, et al. 2021. "Small All-range Lidar for Asteroid and Comet Core Missions ."
Sensors,
21
(9):
3081
[Full Text (Link)]
[10.3390/s21093081]
Mazarico, E., X. Sun, J.-M. Torre, et al. 2020. "First Two-way Laser Ranging to a Lunar Orbiter: infrared observations from the Grasse station to LRO’s retro-reflector array
."
Earth, Planets and Space,
[Full Text (Link)]
[10.1186/s40623-020-01243-w]
Cremons, D. R., X. Sun, Z. H. Denny, et al. 2020. "Optical Characterization of Laser Retroreflector Arrays for Lunar Landers."
Applied Optics,
59
(16):
5020-5031
[https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.388371]
Jarmak, S., E. Leonard, A. Akins, et al. 2020. "QUEST: A New Frontiers Uranus orbiter mission concept study."
Acta Astronautica,
170:
6-26
[10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.01.030]
Cremons, D. R., J. B. Abshire, X. Sun, et al. 2020. "Design of a direct-detection wind and aerosol lidar for mars orbit."
CEAS Space Journal,
12
(2):
149-162
[10.1007/s12567-020-00301-z]
Sun, X., D. E. Smith, E. D. Hoffman, et al. 2019. "Small and Lightweight Laser Retro-Reflector Arrays for Lunar Landers."
Applied Optics,
58
(33):
9259-9266
[10.1364/AO.58.009259]
Cremons, D. R., D. X. Du, and D. J. Flannigan. 2017. "Picosecond phase-velocity dispersion of hypersonic phonons imaged with ultrafast electron microscopy."
Physical Review Materials,
1
(7):
073801
[10.1103/physrevmaterials.1.073801]
Cremons, D. R., D. A. Plemmons, and D. J. Flannigan. 2017. "Defect-mediated phonon dynamics in TaS2 and WSe2."
Structural Dynamics,
4
(4):
044019
[10.1063/1.4982817]
Flannigan, D. J., D. R. Cremons, and D. T. Valley. 2017. "Multimodal visualization of the optomechanical response of silicon cantilevers with ultrafast electron microscopy."
Journal of Materials Research,
32
(1):
239-247
[10.1557/jmr.2016.360]
Cremons, D. R., D. A. Plemmons, and D. J. Flannigan. 2016. "Femtosecond electron imaging of defect-modulated phonon dynamics."
Nature communications,
7:
11230
[10.1038/ncomms11230]
Cremons, D. R., and D. J. Flannigan. 2016. "Direct in situ thermometry: Variations in reciprocal-lattice vectors and challenges with the Debye--Waller effect."
Ultramicroscopy,
161:
10-16
[10.1016/j.ultramic.2015.10.022]
Non-Refereed
Guzewich, S., J. B. Abshire, M. M. Baker, et al. 2021. "Measuring Mars Atmospheric Winds from Orbit."
Vol. 53, Issue 4 (Planetary/Astrobiology Decadal Survey Whitepapers)
53
(4):
[10.3847/25c2cfeb.6576a506]
Guzewich, S., J. Abshire, L. Carter, et al. 2021. "The Mars Atmospheric and Polar Science Mission."
Vol. 53, Issue 4 (Planetary/Astrobiology Decadal Survey Whitepapers)
53
(4):
[10.3847/25c2cfeb.7e4e0e4d]
Sandford, M., P. G. Lucey, X. Sun, and D. Cremons. 2018. "A spectrographic receiver for laser spectrometers."
Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Ultraspectral Remote Sensing Technology, Techniques and Applications VII
10780:
[10.1117/12.2324818]
Cremons, D. R., J. B. Abshire, M. D. Smith, et al. 2018. "Development of a Mars lidar (MARLI) for measuring wind and aerosol profiles from orbit."
Lidar Technologies, Techniques, and Measurements for Atmospheric Remote Sensing XIV
[10.1117/12.2325408]
2017 - PhD, Materials Science - Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2011 - BA, Chemistry, cum laude - Department of Chemistry, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Invited
Testing of Lunar Retroreflector Array for SpaceIL Lunar Spacecraft
11
/
28
/
2018
Cremons, D. R.; Sun, X. S.; Hoffman, E.; Wake, S.; Denny, Z.; Dogoda, P.; Aaron, P.; Cristopolous, P., SpaceIL Headquarters, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Development of a Mars lidar (MARLI) for measuring wind and aerosol profiles from Orbit
9
/
11
/
2018
Cremons, D. R.; Abshire, J.; Allan, G.; Sun, X.; Riris, H.; Smith, M. D.; Guzewich, S.; Yu, A.; Hovis, F., SPIE Remote Sensing 2018, Berlin, Germany.
MARLI: MARs Lidar for global wind and aerosol profiles from orbit
9
/
13
/
2018
Abshire, J.; Cremons, D. R.; Riris, H.; Sun, X.; Allan, G.; Smith, M. D.; Guzewich, S.; Yu, A.; Hovis, F.; Gentry, B., International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary Missions, Berlin, Germany.
Other
Passive Retroreflector Arrays for Polar Navigation in the Dark
12
/
6
/
2022
Cremons, D. R., Smith, D. E., Sun, X., Mazarico, E, and Head, J, CLPS Survive the Night Workshop
Mars Lander Lidar for Profiling Winds, Water Vapor, and Aerosols
6
/
29
/
2022
Cremons, D. R., Abshire, J. B., Numata, K., Guzewich, S. D., Smith, M. D., Sun, X. Optimizing Planetary-In Situ Atmosphere Interactions Workshop
Small Lidar for Profiling Water Vapor, Aerosols and Winds from a Mars Lander
6
/
15
/
2022
Abshire, J. B., Cremons, D. R., Numata, K., Guzewich, S. D., Smith, M. D., Sun, X. 7th Workshop on Mars Atmospheric Modelling and Observations
Simulating Multispectral Lidar Measurements of Lunar Surface Hydration
3
/
8
/
2022
Cremons, D. R.; Honniball, C. I., Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 52.
Optical Characterization of CLPS Miniature Laser Retroreflector Arrays
3
/
15
/
2021
Cremons, D. R.; Sun, X.; Denny, Z.; Wake, S. W.; Hoffman, E. D.; Aaron, E. C.; Mazarico, E.; Smith, D. E., Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 51.
Small Lidar for Profiling Water Vapor and Winds from the Mars Surface
12
/
2
/
2020
Abshire, J. B.; Guzewich, S. D.; Cremons, D. R.; Smith, M. D.; Numata, K.; Sun, X., American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2020, P084.
Mapping Lunar Volatiles and Hydration in Light and Shadow via Orbital Lidar Reflectance Measurements from NIR to MWIR
12
/
2
/
2020
Cremons, D. R.; Abshire, J. B.; Lucey, P. G.; Stubbs, T.; Sun, X., American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2020, P023-0008.
A Mission Concept for Measuring Changes in Apophis During Earth Encounter
11
/
8
/
2020
Smith, D. E.; Sun, X.; Mazarico, E.; Cremons, D. R.; Zuber, M. T.; Neumann, G. A.; Goossens, S. J.; Barker, M. K.; Mao, D.; Head, J. W., Apophis T-9 Years: Knowledge Opportunities for the Science of Planetary Defense.
Multiwavelength Lidar for Remote Spectroscopic Measurements of the Lunar Surface
3
/
19
/
2020
Cremons, D. R.; Abshire, J. A.; Lucey, P. G.; Stubbs, T. J.; Mazarico, E., Lunar Surface Science Workshop, LPI.
Multiwavelength Lidar for Remote Spectroscopic Surveys of Volatiles on the Lunar Surface
12
/
13
/
2019
Cremons, D. R.; Abshire, J. B.; Lucey, P. G.; Yu, A.; Sun, X.; Stubbs, T. J.; Numata, K., AGU Fall Meeting 2019, San Francisco, California.
Miniature Laser Retro-Reflector Arrays (LRA) for Lunar Landers
12
/
11
/
2019
Sun, X.; Smith, D. E.; Hoffman, E. D.; Wake, S. W.; Cremons, D. R.; Mazarico, E.; Lauenstein, J. M.; Zuber, M. T.; Aaron, E. C., AGU Fall Meeting 2019, San Francisco, California.
Miniature Laser Retro-Reflector Arrays (LRA) as Fiducial Markers on Lunar Landers
10
/
29
/
2019
Sun, X.; Smith, D. E.; Hoffman, E. D.; Wake, S. W.; Cremons, D. R.; Mazarico, E.; Lauenstein, J. M.; Zuber, M. T.; Aaron, E. C., Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, Washington, D. C.
2-Way Laser Ranging from the Grasse Station to LRO: Implications for Lunar Laser Ranging
10
/
29
/
2019
Mazarico, E.; Sun, X.; Torre, J.-M.; Courde, C.; Aimar, M.; Chabé, J.; Bouquillon, S.; Lemoine, F. G.; Mao, D.; Barker, M. K.; Viswanathan, V.; Cremons, D. R.; Zuber, M. T.; Smith, D. E., Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, Washington, D. C.
QUEST: A New Frontiers Uranus Orbiter Concept Study from the 30th Annual NASA/JPL Planetary Science Summer Seminar
3
/
19
/
2019
Jarmak, S.; Leonard, E.; Schurmeier, L.; Akins, A.; Cofield, S; Cremons, D. R.; Curtis, A.; Dahl, E.; Dong, C.; Dunham, E. T.; Journaux, B.; Murakami, W.; Ng, M.; Piquette, M.; Pradeepkumar Girija, A.; Rink, N.; Stein, N.; Tallarida, N.; Telus, M.; Lowes, L.; Budney, C.; Mitchell, K. L., Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 50, The Woodlands, Texas.
Testing of Miniature Laser Retroreflector Arrays for Commercial Lunar Landers
3
/
16
/
2019
Cremons, D. R.; Sun, X.; Hoffman, E.; Wake, S.; Mazarico, E.; Neumann, G. A.; Barker, M.; Smith, D. E.; Genova, A.; Zuber, M. T.; Denny, Z.; Dogoda, P.; Aaron, E.; Cristopolous, P., Microsymposium 60: Forward to the Moon to Stay: Undertaking Transformative Lunar Science with Commercial Partners, The Woodlands, Texas.
MARLI: Mars Lidar for Global Wind Measurements from Orbit
12
/
12
/
2018
Cremons, D. R.; Abshire, J.; Allan, G.; Sun, X.; Riris, H.; Smith, M. D.; Guzewich, S.; Yu, A.; Hovis, F., AGU Fall Meeting 2018, Washington, D. C.
2017 - NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship, Universities Space Research Association
2016 - Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, University of Minnesota
2016 - Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, University of Minnesota
2015 - Excellence in Safety Award, University of Minnesota
2011 - Distinction for Senior Integrative Exercise, Carleton College
2006 - Eagle Scout Award, Boy Scouts of America
American Geophysical Union,
2018
-
Present
Materials Research Society,
2015
-
2016
-GSFC Lead for NASA ISRU System Capability Leadership Team
-Technical Monitor for NASA STMD LuSTR Program
-Reviewer for internal NASA GSFC R&A programs
-Reviewer for NASA R&A programs
-Session Chair: SPIE Remote Sensing 2018 (Berlin, Germany)
-Science advocate, AGU Congressional Meetings
-Journal reviewer (Robotics, Applied Optics, Earth and Space Science, Sensors, Optics Express, Remote Sensing)
Patents
1. Klun, T. P.; Ali, M. B.; Pokorny, R. J.; Cremons, D. R.; Toy, M. L., Additive Comprising Low Surface Energy Group and Hydroxyl Groups and Coating Compositions. Patent No: US 9803042, published: Oct. 31, 2017
2. Pokorny, R. J.; Klun, T. P.; Ali, M. B.; Cremons, D. R.; Toy, M. L, Coating Compositions Comprising Polymerizable Non-Ionic Surfactant Exhibiting Reduced Fingerprint Visibility. Patent No: US 9701850, published: July 11, 2017.
2018 - Planetary Science Summer Seminar 2018 (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Volunteer, Moon Day with the Bowie Baysox
2018
-
2018
Judge, Pennsylvania Junior Science and Humanities Symposium
2019
-
2019
Volunteer, Moon Outreach at the Apollo 50th Festival
7
/
2019
-
7
/
2019
Maryland Institute College of Art AstroAnimation
1
/
2022
-
Present
Refereed
Cremons, D. R. 2022. "The future of lidar in planetary science."
Frontiers in Remote Sensing
3
[10.3389/frsen.2022.1042460]
Cremons, D. R., and C. I. Honniball. 2022. "Simulated Lunar Surface Hydration Measurements using Multispectral Lidar at 3 µm."
Earth and Space Science
9
(8):
e2022EA002277
[10.1029/2022ea002277]
Cremons, D., X. Sun, J. B. Abshire, and E. Mazarico. 2021. "Small PN-Code Lidar for Asteroid and Comet Missions – Receiver Processing and Performance Simulations."
Remote Sensing
13
(12):
2282
[Full Text (Link)]
[10.3390/rs13122282]
Sun, X., D. Cremons, E. Mazarico, et al. 2021. "Small All-range Lidar for Asteroid and Comet Core Missions ."
Sensors
21
(9):
3081
[Full Text (Link)]
[10.3390/s21093081]
Mazarico, E., X. Sun, J.-M. Torre, et al. 2020. "First Two-way Laser Ranging to a Lunar Orbiter: infrared observations from the Grasse station to LRO’s retro-reflector array
."
Earth, Planets and Space
[Full Text (Link)]
[10.1186/s40623-020-01243-w]
Cremons, D. R., X. Sun, Z. H. Denny, et al. 2020. "Optical Characterization of Laser Retroreflector Arrays for Lunar Landers."
Applied Optics
59
(16):
5020-5031
[https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.388371]
Jarmak, S., E. Leonard, A. Akins, et al. 2020. "QUEST: A New Frontiers Uranus orbiter mission concept study."
Acta Astronautica
170
6-26
[10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.01.030]
Cremons, D. R., J. B. Abshire, X. Sun, et al. 2020. "Design of a direct-detection wind and aerosol lidar for mars orbit."
CEAS Space Journal
12
(2):
149-162
[10.1007/s12567-020-00301-z]
Sun, X., D. E. Smith, E. D. Hoffman, et al. 2019. "Small and Lightweight Laser Retro-Reflector Arrays for Lunar Landers."
Applied Optics
58
(33):
9259-9266
[10.1364/AO.58.009259]
Cremons, D. R., D. X. Du, and D. J. Flannigan. 2017. "Picosecond phase-velocity dispersion of hypersonic phonons imaged with ultrafast electron microscopy."
Physical Review Materials
1
(7):
073801
[10.1103/physrevmaterials.1.073801]
Cremons, D. R., D. A. Plemmons, and D. J. Flannigan. 2017. "Defect-mediated phonon dynamics in TaS2 and WSe2."
Structural Dynamics
4
(4):
044019
[10.1063/1.4982817]
Flannigan, D. J., D. R. Cremons, and D. T. Valley. 2017. "Multimodal visualization of the optomechanical response of silicon cantilevers with ultrafast electron microscopy."
Journal of Materials Research
32
(1):
239-247
[10.1557/jmr.2016.360]
Cremons, D. R., D. A. Plemmons, and D. J. Flannigan. 2016. "Femtosecond electron imaging of defect-modulated phonon dynamics."
Nature communications
7
11230
[10.1038/ncomms11230]
Cremons, D. R., and D. J. Flannigan. 2016. "Direct in situ thermometry: Variations in reciprocal-lattice vectors and challenges with the Debye--Waller effect."
Ultramicroscopy
161
10-16
[10.1016/j.ultramic.2015.10.022]
Non-Refereed
Guzewich, S., J. B. Abshire, M. M. Baker, et al. 2021. "Measuring Mars Atmospheric Winds from Orbit."
Vol. 53, Issue 4 (Planetary/Astrobiology Decadal Survey Whitepapers)
53
(4):
[10.3847/25c2cfeb.6576a506]
Guzewich, S., J. Abshire, L. Carter, et al. 2021. "The Mars Atmospheric and Polar Science Mission."
Vol. 53, Issue 4 (Planetary/Astrobiology Decadal Survey Whitepapers)
53
(4):
[10.3847/25c2cfeb.7e4e0e4d]
Sandford, M., P. G. Lucey, X. Sun, and D. Cremons. 2018. "A spectrographic receiver for laser spectrometers."
Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Ultraspectral Remote Sensing Technology, Techniques and Applications VII
10780
[10.1117/12.2324818]
Cremons, D. R., J. B. Abshire, M. D. Smith, et al. 2018. "Development of a Mars lidar (MARLI) for measuring wind and aerosol profiles from orbit."
Lidar Technologies, Techniques, and Measurements for Atmospheric Remote Sensing XIV
[10.1117/12.2325408]
