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Congratulations OSIRIS-REx Team!

2024.04.03

The OSIRIS-Rex Team has been awarded the prestigious award for innovation in aviation, The Collier Trophy. Additionally, they also took home the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy AND the American Astronautical Society's Neil Armstrong Space Flight Achievement Award.

‘Asteroid City’ Cast Asks NASA About OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Mission

2023.07.27

“Asteroid City” actors, including Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, Maya Hawke, Rupert Friend, Jake Ryan and Jeffrey Wright, join NASA OSIRIS-REx sample expert Dr. Danny Glavin to discuss how studying the asteroid sample will give scientists insight into how the early solar system formed and how life began on Earth.

Jason Dworkin (690) interviewed about OSIRIS-REx

2023.06.02

Jason Dworkin (690), OSIRIS-REx Project Scientist, was recently interviewed and shared what’s in store for the long-awaited samples from Bennu.

2023 Poster Party Blowout winners announced

2023.02.16

We had over 175 posters from all four science divisions, as well as a few select entries from the Engineering and Technology Directorate. As one of the few yearly events that brings together the whole Sciences and Exploration Directorate, the large turnout (including GSFC and HQ VIPs) and collaborative communication made the event a great success! While there were so many fantastic contributions, awards were given for outstanding posters in 5 categories:

Best Poster Title:
Francesco Civilini (690.1) - How to Train your Lander: Automatic moonquake detection using machine learning
Best Graphic Design:
Douglas Rowland (675) - The Geospace Dynamics Constellation mission: NASA's next Living With a Star mission to explore the upper atmosphere
Best Science as Food:
Maryam Rahmani (665) - Cosmic Microwave Background/Line Intensity Mapping cake and jell-o
Best Science Story:
Shipra Sinha (670) - The Mystery of Magnetospheric Substorms
Piers Sellers Interdisciplinary Award:
Erin Delaria (614) - The NASA Carbon Airborne Flux Experiment (CARAFE): Observations of Greenhouse Gas Exchange in the Florida Everglades

Collage of images from the Poster Blowout

Reggie Hudson awarded AAS's Laboratory Astrophysics Prize

2023.01.17

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has awarded the 2023 Laboratory Astrophysics Prize to Dr. Reggie Hudson of the Goddard's Cosmic Ice Laboratory. It is given in recognition of his contributions to the understanding of the chemistry of ices in the interstellar medium and in the Solar System.

SSERVI Award Winners 2022

2022.07.19

Recognizing that science and exploration go hand in hand, NASA created SSERVI in 2013 to advance human exploration of the Moon and other solar system destinations. The SSERVI Awards recognize outstanding achievement in exploration science and recipients have each made unique contributions to NASA’s human exploration efforts. SSERVI Award winners are nominated by their academic peers and are selected by a committee based at SSERVI’s central office. The awards will be presented along with invited lectures from the recipients at the 2022 NASA Exploration Science Forum (NESF) taking place July 19-21. It is our great pleasure to announce this year’s SSERVI award winners. Each is exceptionally deserving, and each is an outstanding member of our community, providing both exceptional science and strong leadership.

Susan Mahan Niebur Early Career Award: Dr. O.J. Tucker and Dr. Kelsey Young

Angioletta Coradini Mid-Career Award: Dr. Carolyn van der Bogert

Michael J. Wargo Exploration Science Award: Dr. Ben Bussey

Eugene Shoemaker Distinguished Scientist Medal Dr. Lisa Gaddis

Each of this year’s winners is exceptionally deserving, and it’s an honor to work with them to help further our great efforts as we get ever closer to what we all hope is a permanent presence on our Moon.

Lynnae Quick - 2021 Harold C. Urey Prize

2021.08.12

The 2021 Harold C. Urey Prize for outstanding achievement in planetary research by an early career scientist is awarded to Dr. Lynnae C. Quick. Dr. Quick’s innovative scientific work focuses on geophysical processes writ large, reaching from the inner solar system, through the asteroid belt, to ocean worlds, and into the exoplanetary realm. She has revisited modeling of (cryo)lava domes on Venus and Europa, was the first to model the formation of Ceres’ “bright spots” via the transport of material from a deep brine reservoir to the surface, has repeatedly provided new insights into plumes on Jupiter’s moon Europa, and shed light on the abundance of extrasolar ocean worlds. In addition to her scientific pursuits, Dr. Quick is exceptionally engaged in the broader research community through her proactive leadership as a co-investigator on several space missions, as a member of the Outer Planets Assessment Group steering committee, the Planetary Science Decadal Survey 2023-2032 panel on ocean worlds and dwarf planets, and the National Society of Black Physicists. Dr. Quick’s advocacy work to diversify the field is particularly notable. She has mentored many early career planetary scientists and is leading the Dragonfly Student and Early Career Investigator Program. Every aspect of Dr. Quick’s career represents a positive outlook for the future of our community.

Goddard's "Cutting Edge" magazine's first Early Career Spotlight focuses on Bethany Theiling

2021.08.03

The "Cutting Edge" technology magazine's first Early Career Spotlight focuses on Goddard’s Bethany Theiling and her work toward autonomous exploration of our solar system’s ice moons.

John C. Lindsay Memorial Award for Space Science

2020.08.27

A message from Center Director Dennis J. Andrucyk:

In a bit of good news, I would like to congratulate Dennis Reuter and Amy Simon, both from our Solar System Exploration Division, as this year’s co-recipients of the John C. Lindsay Memorial Award for Space Science, one of the highest honors bestowed by our center. Together, they have led the development and use of infrared spectrometers that are leading to groundbreaking discoveries. Among other achievements, their OSIRIS-REx OVIRS instrument is at asteroid Bennu, where it has enabled the discovery of hydrated minerals. In just a few months, OSIRIS-REx will pluck a sample from the asteroid, making this honor both timely and topical. They will be presented with the award during a future Goddard Scientific Colloquium. Hearty congratulations to both Dennis and Amy, and we’re excited to hear about more amazing discoveries from OSIRIS-REx!

Faces of Technology: Meet Danny Glavin

2019.11.21

FY2019 SECP graduates

2019.10.09

Goddard’s Science and Engineering Collaboration Program (SECP) serves as a training ground for future lead engineers and principal investigators. The SECP was created to bridge the gap between the GSFC scientific and engineering communities to strengthen engineers’ understanding of the programs and culture within Code 600, increase scientists’ understanding of the resources available within Code 500 for developing new concepts, and to foster collaboration between Code 500 and Code 600 on new space flight technology ideas and concepts. William Brinckerhoff (690) and Rajat Bindlish (617) “graduated” from the program on October 9.

Presidential Early Career Awards

2019.07.10

We congratulate Giada Arney, Shawn Domagal-Goldman and Jennifer Stern, on receiving Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The Whitehouse web page describes the awards as, “Established in 1996, the PECASE acknowledges the contributions scientists and engineers have made to the advancement of science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM) education and to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, and community outreach. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy coordinates the PECASE with participating departments and agencies.”

Giada Arney, is recognized for far-reaching influence in predicting, observing, and communicating about habitability and the potential for life beyond Earth. Shawn Domagal-Goldman, is recognized for his work on the physical models of exoplanets, and Jennifer Stern, for her work on Mars habitability and life detection. Congratulations Giada, Shawn and Jennifer, on this outstanding achievement, and for representing our scientific community here at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Poster Blowout 2019 is in the books!

2019.02.27

Photos from this year's Poster Blowout are available now. Congratulations to everyone, especially this year's winners!

Poster Blowout 2018

2018.02.05

Note from the Director:
I would like to thank the Director’s Science Committee for putting on an amazingly successful event where scientists and engineers across Goddard shared their work and made new contacts. The interdisciplinary interactions were especially exciting and crossed all four science disciplines.
Best,
Colleen

Click the title of this news item or the image below for more images from the poster party.

Summer 2018 Astrobiology Research Opportunity for Undergraduates

2017.09.20

Applications are being accepted for Undergraduate Research Associates in Astrobiology, an intensive 10-week program in which students will work with scientists in the Goddard Center for Astrobiology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. This is a residential program for undergraduates, with housing at the University of Maryland College Park. Participants will be paid a stipend and given a modest travel allowance. Program dates: May 29 to Aug. 3, 2018. Applications due: Jan. 26, 2018. For more information and an application, click here.

Goddard Planetary Instruments Win Development, Maturation Funding

2017.07.25

Three instrument proposals led by researchers in Goddard's Solar System Exploration Division were selected for funding by the PICASSO and MatISSE programs. The PICASSO selection was "Development of a Prototype for the Thermal Infrared Composite Imaging Spectrometer (TIRCIS) Instrument," with Terry Hurford as the PI. Selected for MatISSE funds were the "Mars Lidar for Global Climate Measurements from Orbit (MARLI)" with James Abshire as the PI, and "Picture this SELFI: A Maturation Project for a Submillimeter Enceladus Life Fundamentals Instrument (SELFI)" with Gordon Chin as the PI. Read more here.

More Goddard CubeSat Mission Concepts Selected for Study

2017.07.19

Researchers in Code 690 have leadership roles in six studies selected under the Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies (PSDS3) program to develop mission concepts for small satellites. 1. Valeria Cottini, PI: the CubeSat UV Experiment (CUVE); 2. Timothy Stubbs, PI: Bi-sat Observations of the Lunar Atmosphere above Swirls (BOLAS); 3. Tilak Hewagama, PI: Primitive Object Volatile Explorer (PrOVE); 4. Noah Petro, PI: Mini Lunar Volatiles (MiLUV) mission; 5. Mike Collier, PI: Phobos Regolith Ion Sample Mission (PRISM); and 6. Barbara Cohen, co-Investigator: Lunar Water Assessment, Transport, Evolution, and Resource (WATER) mission. Read more here.

Goddard CubeSat Mission Concepts Selected for Study

2017.03.22

Two studies led by researchers in Code 690 were selected under the Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies (PSDS3) program to develop mission concepts using small satellites to investigate Venus, Earth’s moon, asteroids, Mars and the outer planets. Timothy Stubbs leads the Bi-sat Observations of the Lunar Atmosphere above Swirls (BOLAS), which would use tethered 12-unit CubeSats to investigate the moon's hydrogen cycle. Valeria Cottini leads the CubeSat UV Experiment (CUVE), a 12-unit CubeSat orbiter to measure ultraviolet absorption and nightglow emissions to understand Venus’ atmospheric dynamics.

Four GSFC scientists were named AGU fellows

2016.12.19

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) today announced its 2016 Fellows, an honor given to individual AGU members who have made exceptional scientific contributions and gained prominence in their respective fields of Earth and space sciences. Since the AGU Fellows program was established in 1962, and according to the organization’s bylaws, no more than 0.01 percent of the total membership of AGU is recognized annually. This year’s class of Fellows are geographically diverse coming from 18 states and eight countries and includes Goddard scientists Paul Mahaffy, Claire Parkinson, Brent Holben, and Nat Gopalswamy.

Science Jamboree event photos

2016.08.04

The 2016 Science Jamboree was a great success! A collection of 50 photos from the event are available now.

Goddard Scientists Named Fellows of the American Geophysical Union

2016.07.27

Four Goddard scientists were named 2016 fellows of the American Geophysical Union in recognition of their contributions to Earth and space sciences. Claire Parkinson, a senior scientist in Goddard’s Earth Sciences Division; Nat Gopalswamy in the Solar Physics Laboratory; Brent Holben in the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory; and Paul Mahaffy, director of Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division, were among the 60 new fellows elected this year. The American Geophysical Union established its Fellows Program in 1962, and only 0.1% of the organization’s membership receives this recognition in any given year. The new fellows will be honored in a December 14 ceremony during the American Geophysical Union’s fall 2016 meeting in San Francisco.

Library of Congress Lecture on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Mission

2016.05.24

Jason P. Dworkin, chief of Goddard's Astrochemistry Laboratory gave a free lecture on May 24 at the Library of Congress about NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which is scheduled to launch on Sept. 8, 2016.

NASA Employees Among Finalists for Prestigious Heyman Medal

2016.05.02

This year’s finalists for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal include Goddard scientist Dennis Reuter and his team, nominated for contributions to the New Horizons mission, which flew past Pluto in July 2015.

Paul Mahaffy Named Director of the Solar System Exploration Division

2015.12.11

Paul Mahaffy has been named the new Director of Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division. Paul served for nearly 10 years as Chief of the Planetary Environments Laboratory, leading this group’s study of planetary atmospheres and surface environments with emphases on the modeling of atmospheres and surface environments, advanced instrument development, the study of terrestrial planetary analogs, and the development of space-qualified instruments. Paul is currently Principal Investigator of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) investigation on the Curiosity rover and of the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) on the MAVEN Mars orbiter. He previously participated in a wide range of planetary missions, including those to Jupiter, Saturn, comets, and the moon.