ARTECH·TALK | Gina DiBraccio + Geronimo Villanueva | Voyage of Discovery: Navigating the Wonders of Our Solar System
Join Dr. Gina DiBraccio and Dr. Geronimo Villanueva for “Voyage of Discovery: Navigating the Wonders of Our Solar System”. This captivating talk will take you on a journey to each planet in our solar system, revealing fun facts, groundbreaking science, and the tantalizing mysteries that remain.
Drs. DiBraccio and Villanueva will guide you planet by planet, sharing intriguing insights from their research. Learn about the unique characteristics of each celestial body, from the scorching surface of Mercury to the icy rings of Saturn, and the immense storms on Jupiter to the enigmatic features of Neptune. They will highlight the diverse methods used to study these planets, including orbiters, rovers, and telescopes, and how these missions have transformed our understanding of the solar system.
The talk will also delve into the remaining mysteries of each planet and their moons. Discover what questions still intrigue scientists and what future missions might uncover. For example, what secrets lie beneath the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa? What caused Mars’ atmospheric loss? And what complex dynamics govern the magnetospheres of Uranus and Neptune?
Dr. Gina DiBraccio is the Deputy Director of the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Deputy Principal Investigator of the MAVEN mission at Mars. She is an expert in magnetospheric physics, determining how the Sun and its solar wind drives planetary magnetic field dynamics. Her research experience spans every planet in our heliosphere and she applies a comparative magnetospheres approach to understand how fundamental physical processes operate in space. She is also actively researching the effects of space weather on the Martian environment for future human and robotic exploration. In her role on GSFC’s Magnetometer team, Dr. DiBraccio is leading instrumentation efforts while supporting the careful calibration and processing of data for scientific analysis. Dr. DiBraccio has received numerous awards for her work on NASA missions including MESSENGER, MAVEN, and STORM. Most notably, she received the NASA Early Career Achievement Medal in 2018.
Dr. Geronimo Villanueva is a planetary scientist at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center who specializes in the search for astrobiology-relevant species on Mars, Venus, Ocean Worlds (Europa, Enceladus), primordial bodies (comets) and in distant exoplanets. He is the Associate Director for Strategic Science of the Solar System Exploration Division. He is also the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Planetary Spectrum Generator (PSG), Co-lead Scientist of the Comet Interceptor MIRMIS instrument, Co-Investigator of the ExoMars/TGO mission, and leader for Mars and Ocean Worlds studies (GTO) for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). In recognition to his work on small bodies, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) named minor planet ‘9724’after Dr. Villanueva, in 2015 the American Astronomical Society (AAS) honored him with the Urey Prize (young planetary scientist of the year), and in 2023 he was awarded the Lindsay Memorial Award in Space Science by NASA, among other honors and awards.
Date: Wednesday, February 28
Time:
5pm-6pm Programming
6pm-7pm Exhibition Experience
Location: ARTECHOUSE DC
Tickets will become available one week prior to the event. Make sure you follow us on social media @artechouse where they will be announced.
Your complimentary ticket includes admission to the exhibition.
ARTECHTALK programming is a free series of talks and conversations with NASA scientists, inspired by Beyond the Light at ARTECHOUSE DC.
Beyond the Light, an original artistic expression of scientific discoveries conceptualized and created by ARTECHOUSE Studio in collaboration with NASA, is the story of how human innovation has enabled us to see beyond our imaginations and into the furthest reaches of the cosmos. The cinematic exhibition submerges you into the timeless story of light and aims to inspire your curiosity for what else is possible.
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