Comparative Planetology Lab, University of Louisville

U of L’s SPACE RESEARCH BRINGS NASA TO LOUISVILLE

. November 3d, 2004

What was Earth like 4.6 billion years ago? Scientists working on a space mission to Saturn hope to have a better idea soon from pictures of and data from the planet’s largest moon Titan. The second-largest moon in the Solar System, Titan is suspected of being much like a younger Earth.

The public can learn about the latest findings in the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn Monday, Nov. 8, at 8 p.m. at a public talk in downtown Louisville.

Scientists with NASA and the European Space Agency, collaborators on the mission, will present the latest close-up images of Saturn and Titan taken from the Cassini spacecraft, which already has had two close encounters with Titan. Later this year, the spacecraft will release the Huygen probe for a descent to Titan’s surface. If it survives the trip, it will relay data about the surface back to Earth. The presentation also will include time to answer audience questions.

The talk, sponsored by NASA and the University of Louisville, is a free, public portion of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Science conference. It will take place in the Grand Ballroom of the Kentucky International Convention Center at Jefferson and Fourth streets. An open house is scheduled before the talk from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Exhibition Hall 1A.

Timothy Dowling is one of several professors at U of L involved in space research.

The society is convening in Louisville for the first time largely because of the efforts of U of L faculty member Timothy Dowling, a leading authority on planetary atmospheres who directs U of L’s Comparative Planetology Laboratory in the J.B. Speed School of Engineering.

Louisville beat out fierce competition for the convention from Washington, D.C., Seattle and Pasadena, Calif., the home of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Because of Dowling’s efforts, some 600 planetary scientists will converge on the Kentucky International Convention Center Nov. 8–12 for their annual meeting.

“NASA has never been to Louisville, so we’re thrilled about it,” Dowling said. “The lecture is open to everyone, not just scientists. It will be lots of fun.”

Dowling is an expert on planetary gases and atmospheres and is involved in several studies, including a comparison of the atmospheres of Venus and Titan. He is one of several professors at U of L involved in space research.

For decades, U of L scientists have been working with NASA and conducting other space-related research; in 2003, they received $3 million in NASA contracts. With a renewed emphasis on space exploration and a new partnership between Kentucky and NASA, more research opportunities could be forthcoming.

* Speed School of Engineering professor Keith Sharp is studying the effects of weightlessness on blood circulation and a condition known as “postflight orthostatic intolerance,” or the inability of astronauts to stand after they return to Earth.

* Eugenia Wang, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, is studying the long-term effects of space travel — from the intense vibrations of liftoff to the extended exposure to radiation and weightlessness— on human cells and the aging process.

* John F. Kielkopf, long-time physics professor and director of U of L’s Moore Observatory, is researching the theory of spectral line shapes for interpreting and modeling the spectra of white dwarf stars. He also is studying astronomical spectroscopy of comets and the interstellar medium.

U of L’s connection to space doesn’t stop there.

Scientists and the public who marveled at the amazing photos transmitted back from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Mission this year can thank U of L alumnus Mark Wadsworth, who works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

A physics graduate who earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at U of L in the early 1980s, Wadsworth designed the electronic film that captures the images. More than that, the system he developed also serves as the digital eyeballs that allow Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity to navigate the planet’s surface. The rovers were designed for a 90-day mission which they completed in April. Even into mid-October, they were sending information back to Earth.

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