While we
yearn to walk on other worlds, SETI Institute scientist Cynthia Phillips
strolls the surfaces of distant planets each day at her computer. She's a
planetary geologist on a quest to understand how liquids change the surfaces of
other worlds. She studies Mars and the icy moons of the outer solar system,
mapping the evolution of their surfaces. It's all part of the search for life
beyond our home planet, Earth.
An expert
in processing spacecraft images of the planets, Cynthia Phillips is especially
interested in the search for active geological processes on such worlds as
Mars, Europa, Io, Titan, and Enceladus.
Regions of current, ongoing geological activity are particularly germane from
an astrobiological perspective because they represent locations where liquid
water could be present today. Such active regions are also places where
material from underneath could be brought up to the surface, where it's much
easier for scientists to observe using either remote sensing or landed
spacecraft.
Cynthia compares the images taken of Jupiter's moons Europa
and Io by the Galileo and Voyager spacecraft to search for any changes that may
have occurred on their surfaces. In the case of Europa, which is believed to
have a mammoth, liquid ocean beneath its icy surface, active regions could
pinpoint locations where liquid water is located close to the crust. Such areas
would be important targets for a future Europa spacecraft mission, and perhaps
one day could be landing sites. While she has not yet found any such active
regions on Europa, Cynthia continues to search the Galileo dataset. She also
uses her detection techniques to document ongoing volcanic activity on
Jupiter's pizza-like moon, Io, and the motion of enigmatic features called
"dark slope streaks" on Mars. She uses her image processing
background to help map channels on Saturn's moon Titan that could be caused by
the flow of liquids such as ethane or methane.
Cynthia is interested in impact cratering and uses
high-resolution images of Europa to study the distribution of small craters.
With this data, she models how impacts transport material vertically at
Europa's surface in a process known as "gardening." She plans to apply
her techniques to other bodies in the solar system, including the Moon and the
satellites of Jupiter and Saturn.
Adopt a Scientist
In addition to her scientific research, Cynthia
Phillips leads the SETI Institute's successful summer internship program for
undergraduate students. Partially funded by the National Science Foundation as
part of their Research
Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, the SETI Institute's
Astrobiology REU program also receives funding from the NASA Astrobiology
Institute and from private donors. The program brings about 15 undergraduate
students from around the country to the SETI Institute each summer, where they
are paired with scientists to spend 10 weeks immersed in a scientific research
project. The program includes field trips to interesting local sites such as
Lick Observatory and a week-long field trip to Hat Creek Radio Astronomy
Observatory (HCRO), where students spend time learning about radio astronomy at
the Allen Telescope Array, and go into the field as astrobiologists at nearby
Lassen Volcanic National Park studying geology and biology in extreme
environments. At the end of summer, the student interns present the results of
their research in talks; some go on to give presentations at national
scientific conferences or are co-authors on journal articles.
Options to adopt Dr. Phillips's work with the
REU program include:
- Option
1 ($2500): Fund a local field trip for the REU students. This could be a trip
to San Francisco and the California Academy of Sciences; for example,
transportation via train/bus from Mt. View to San Francisco, admission to the
museum and meals. The donor is invited to come along on the field trip with the
students.
- Option
2 ($3500): Fund a portion of Dr. Phillips's salary to supervise one student in
the program in addition to her oversight of the entire program. The donor is
invited to the end-of-summer science presentations by the students.
- Option
3 ($25,000): Fund Dr. Phillips's salary for 4 months (the REU program plus prep
time). This level includes participation in the field trip to either HCRO or
Lassen with expert guides.
Bonus: All levels include a
personally-autographed copy of one of Dr. Phillips's popular-level books.
Selections include Everything Astronomy, Everything Einstein, 101
Things You Didn't Know about Einstein, Everything Da Vinci, and 101
Things You Didn't Know About Da Vinci.
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