The science team is responsible for determining the scientific objectives of the Northern Light mission, for the operation of instrumentation during the mission and for the analysis of the data returned from Mars.

The following sections list our team members and their interests in alphabetical order, from H to N.

Dr. David Huestis (Co-I, Northern Light MARES Airglow Camera, US Collaborator)
David Huestis joined SRI’s Molecular Physics Laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow in 1973. He became Associate Director in 1988. His research activities, experience and expertise include theoretical and experimental studies of atomic and molecular excited states; molecular spectroscopy; chemical kinetics; lasers and nonlinear optics; scattering theory; applied mathematics and mathematical physics; electronic structure of solids; computer programming and system management; environmental technology and management; R&D and technology management.

Dr. Huestis holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He is also a member of the American Astronomical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Geophysical Union and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He has authored 87 journal articles and book chapters, 220 conference presentations and two patents.

Ron Irvine (PI, Northern Light Camera System)
Ron Irvine holds a M.A.Sc. in Management Sciences and a B.A.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Mr. Irvine will be PI for the lander’s imaging system. He has a strong research record in imaging systems and real-time control systems and has previously worked on three space-based imagers. In addition to his work for Northern Light, Mr. Irvine is flight-software manager and senior developer for the MOPITT and MAESTRO Instruments. He was also involved in the initial design and recent upgrade of systems for the Johns Hopkin’s FUSE space telescope.

Darlene Lim
Darlene Lim is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Toronto’s Department of Geology and Paleoenvironmental Research Laboratory. Her research focuses on the characterization and monitoring of environmental change in the Canadian High Arctic, using limnological and paleolimnological techniques. Ms. Lim’s Ph.D. has included field seasons with the NASA/SETI Haughton Mars Project on Haughton Crater, Devon Island, Nunavut, where she has helped to establish a long-term environmental monitoring program. She is also conducting a paleolimnological investigation of the post-impact lacustrine sediment fill of Haughton Crater as a potential analog for future environmental/climate reconstructions of Mars paleolake sediments. Ms. Lim’s research interests lie in the climatic and biological history of both Earth and Mars. A comprehensive investigation of the present-day or baseline conditions of the Martian surface, subsurface and atmosphere would be an important first step to any future paleoclimatic reconstructions of the Red Planet.

Professor John McConnell (Co-I, Atmospheric Science)
John McConnell is a Professor of Atmospheric Science at York University. His contributions to Northern Light will include work on a 1-D photochemical-diffusion model that extends from the ground to the exosphere. This model has been used to study large-scale transport (using the eddy diffusion concept) using CO and O as transport markers and will provide a useful tool for analyzing species abundance and putting limits on sources from the surface.

Professor McConnell will also work on a collaborative, 3-D GCM study, taking the CMAM as a starting point. As well as providing a useful tool to study dynamics, transport and chemistry, it should prove extremely useful in studying the mobility of water in the atmosphere-surface environment, i.e. from polar cap to permafrost via the atmosphere as an information carrier.

Dr. C. Thomas McElroy (Co-I, Northern Light Lander Aurora Atmospheric Spectrometer)
Dr. C. Thomas McElroy is a Senior Research Scientist with Environment Canada and has extensive experience in remote sounding of the stratosphere from ground-based, balloon, aircraft and space platforms. Dr. McElroy will provide scientific and technical support for the Mars project, related particularly to optical, mechanical and electronic-design aspects and to the spectroscopic issues pertaining to the retrieval of atmospheric gas concentrations. Dr. McElroy is a co-inventor of the Brewer Ozone Spectrophotometer. He has played a key role in the measurement of NO2, making the first visible-light measurements of NO2 in the stratosphere using a balloon-based spectrophotometer. He was deputy PI for the Sun-Photometer Earth-Atmosphere Measurement flown on the US Space Shuttle in October 1992, PI for the CPFM experiment flown as part of the NASA SPADE, ASHOE/MAESA, and STRAT projects, and he is PI for MAESTRO.

Professor Diane Michelangeli (Co-I, Atmospheric Science)
Diane Michelangeli is an Associate Professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of York in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Professor Michelangeli has a Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology. The long-term objective of her research is to develop an air quality model that simulates accurately aerosol formation and evolution in Canada and is validated within the Canadian environment. Her research program focuses primarily on understanding the interactions between the gas and aerosol phases in the atmosphere. By comparing the results of simulations made by models of various spatial and temporal scales with laboratory and field measurements, we want to understand the chemistry and microphysics of aerosol formation and evolution in order to improve the way in which we represent them in our regional and global models. In addition, we use the results of box model simulations to examine the details of specific chemical mechanisms.

Clive Midwinter (Co-I, Northern Light Lander)
Clive Midwinter has been involved in the design of remote sensing instruments for 35 years. He has developed many types of spectrometers, photometers and radiometers for the sounding of the earth’s atmosphere using platforms that involve rockets, balloons and high altitude aircraft. Mr. Midwinter will provide the technical leads for the Northern Light spectrometers. He is presently the technical lead for the MAESTRO spectrometer that is part of the SCISAT-1 mission.

Professor Brian Moorman (Co-I, Northern Light Lander Geo-Science Instrumentation)
Brian Moorman’s research focus is the study of permafrost and glacial systems. He has been working with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in cold environments for over fifteen years. His experience includes using GPR to map the three-dimensional extent of surface and subsurface massive ice bodies and to image the internal structure and hydrological system within glaciers and permafrost. He has also used GPR to study geotechnical problems associated with permafrost (thawed zones and voids) and to image buried structures at archaeological sites (e.g. the temple of the Queen of Sheba).

Brian Moorman’s primary interest in Northern Light involves the investigation of surface and subsurface ice on Mars, for which his research in the Canadian Arctic provides a very good analogy. Dr. Moorman is also interested in the development of the GPR system and automated survey procedures.