Speaker: Dr. Steve Ruff – ASU School of Earth & Space Exploration. A planetary geologist with a focus on the mineralogy of Mars determined via infrared spectroscopy.

Topic: “Updates from the Surface of Mars”. Dr. Ruff discussed recent happenings at the surface of Mars concerning rovers and landers, and a look at the future of Mars exploration. Dr Ruff also reported on the final months of the Opportunity rover’s nearly 15 year mission; the recent activities of the Curiosity rover; the new Insight lander mission; and the upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission.

“New Horizon Mission Update”

Speaker – Dr. Will Grundy, Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ. Dr. Grundy is a co-investigator on NASA’s New Horizon Mission which did the Pluto fly-by and just arrived at Ultima Thule (dumbbell looking asteroid) in the Outer asteroid belt on New Years day 2019. Grundy does spectroscopic, thermal, and imaging observations of outer Solar System bodies using numerous large ground- and space-based telescopes including Hubble, Spitzer, Herschel, Keck, Gemini, VLT, DCT, IRTF, and MMT.