Research

SPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS AND RADAR REMOTE SENSING

• Radar characterization of a possible ice sheet the size of California and Texas combined (and as thick as a 13-story building) [Bramson et al. 2015]
• Discovery of scarps that expose the stratigraphy of mid-latitude ice sheets on Mars [Dundas et al. 2018; Dundas et al. 2021]
• New, large impact crater on Mars that excavated buried ice [Dundas et al. 2022]
• Relationships between outlier ice deposits and the polar caps of Mars [McGlasson et al. 2023]
• Radar response of buried lava flows ("cryptomaria") on the Moon [Bramson et al. 2022]
• Radar investigation of the Aristarchus pyroclastic deposit on the Moon [Morgan et al. 2023]
• New and improved Mini-RF S-band lunar data product [Fassett et al. 2024]
• Radar detections (or lack thereof) of mid-latitude ice-rich deposits in and around Hellas Planitia, in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars [Cook et al. 2020]
• The SWIM (Subsurface Water Ice Mapping) on Mars project [Morgan et al. 2021; Putzig and Morgan et al. 2023 Book Chapter; SWIM Project website]
• Current state of knowledge of modern geomorphological activity on Mars [Diniega et al. 2021]
• Arecibo radar-based model of the shape and surface properties of Itokawa (collaboration with Mike Nolan, Ellen Howell, Patrick Taylor, and Chris Magri)

 

ICY PROCESSES IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

• Conditions for basal melting of water at the south pole of Mars [Sori and Bramson 2019; Egea-González et al. 2022]
• Modeling of ice stability in the mid-latitudes of Mars [Bramson et al. 2017] 
• A phenomenological model for spiral trough migration which reproduces observations [Bramson et al. 2019; Izquierdo et al. 2023]
• Temperature-dependent modification of possible cryovolcanic features on Ceres -- viscous flow rates are slow enough at the location of Ahuna Mons that it would remain identifiable as a cryovolcanic feature today, given the expected young age of the dome [Sori et al. 2017a] and can be used to constrain the cryovolcanic rates on Ceres throughout time [Sori et al. 2018]
• Carbon dioxide ice transport and stability on the Uranian moons -- prediction that the bright spot observed by Voyager 2 inside the crater Wunda is a deposit of CO2 ice [Sori et al. 2017b]
• Origin of geologically recent flow units in Hrad Vallis, Mars and evidence that pāhoehoe‐like lava flows could have interacted with ground ice in the region to generate meltwater and steam [Hamilton et al. 2018]
• iSALE modeling of terraced craters in Arcadia Planitia, Mars to constrain possible ice layer properties [Martellato et al. 2020] 
• An endogenic source for volatiles and 'reddish' features on Pluto's moon Charon and KBOs [Menten et al. 2022]
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ANALOG STUDIES

• Geophysical survey (including GPR, seismic profiles, and gravity data) of the Kentland impact crater in northwest Indiana (collaboration with Doug Schmitt, Peter James, and others)
• Modeling and laboratory experiments of ice sintering processes in non-terrestrial environments (project led by Jamie Molaro)
• Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and ice-coring of the Langjökull Glacier in Iceland (project led by Lynn Carter and colleagues)
• Mapping lava flow margins with differential GPS at Holuhraun, Iceland (led by Christopher Hamilton) [EOS Report]
• Fractal dimension of lava flow margins at Craters of the Moon (project led by Ethan Schaefer, with field campaign run by NASA's FINESSE program) [Schaefer et al. 2021]

 

SPACECRAFT MISSION DEVELOPMENT 

• Assistant Co-Chair of the Measurement Definition Team for International Mars Ice Mapper (I-MIM), a concept being considered in a partnership between NASA, the Italian Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency [FINAL REPORT; About I-MIM: NASA Press Release]
• Co-I for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mini-RF instrument team, Extended Science Mission 5
• Deputy PI of CryptEx, a PRISM3 proposal to explore buried lava flows on the Moon [Bramson et al. 2023 abstract]
• Planning for human presence on Mars using SpaceX Starship [Heldmann et al. 2021; Starship Landing Sites: Golombek et al. 2021 abstract]
• Co-I on COMPASS (Climate Orbiter for Mars Polar Atmospheric and Subsurface Science), a Discovery-class mission concept [Byrne et al. 2020 abstract]
• Team member on MORIE (Mars Orbiter for Resources, Ice, and Environments), a NASA funded Planetary Mission Concept Study for the 2023 decadal survey [Calvin et al. 2021; NASA MEPAG presentation]
• A science case for spacecraft exploration of the Uranian moons [Cartwright et al. 2021]
• Project Manager for our NASA JPL Planetary Science Summer School team in which we developed a mission concept for a Uranian orbiter featuring a low-cost instrument suite [Elder et al. 2018]
• Involved in synthesis teams to summarize scientific advancements and priorities for future investigations within the Mars Polar science community [Diniega, Smith, and Bramson 2019; Smith et al. 2018; Becerra et al. 2021]