Thesis Proposal Presentation by Daniela Henckel on November 6th
Space Studies master’s student, Daniela Henckel, will give her thesis proposal presentation as follows. All Space Studies students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend.
When: Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 8:00 am
Where: Ryan Hall, Room 111
Title: Ceres – VISIR surface composition analysis: A review in advance of the DAWN mission
About the topic: Ceres is the largest Main Belt Asteroid and it is currently the second target of the DAWN mission which left asteroid 4 Vesta in 2012 and will reach 1 Ceres in 2015. The object is of special interest as Ceres is expected to have retained a large amount of primordial water ice in its interior or surface, but many questions about the composition of Ceres surface and sub-surface layers, the properties of its regolith and its degree of differentiation, are unanswered and were only investigated based on models or telescope observations. Furthermore, Ceres is expected to have experienced many processes of planetary evolution and it is fundamental getting a basic understanding on the early stages of the Solar System and on the basic planetary processes. Thus, this work will focus on investigating the possible surface composition of Ceres using spectral analysis methods. The spectra of different mineral assemblages, pure minerals and possible fitting meteorites will be measured at the laboratories of the DLR in Berlin Adlershof (Germany) and will be investigated and compared with existing spectra of Ceres to get a more detailed view on the possible surface composition of Ceres.
About the presenter: After the Bachelor studies in Geological Sciences at the University of Potsdam, Germany in 2011, Daniela started the Master in Geology at the same university. In 2013 she changed her major to Space Studies, Planetary Sciences and started studying as a distance student at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, USA. Currently, during the elaboration of the Master Thesis, she is carrying out research activities at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin, Germany and is active in the field of Vesta and Ceres under the tutorship of Dr. Gabriele Arnold, department of Management and Infrastructure in the Institute of Planetary Research. The Master Thesis will be elaborated under the title of Ceres – VISIR surface composition analysis: A review in advance of the DAWN mission.
This presentation will be available as a live webcast here.