MESSENGER Gains Deputy Principal Investigator

[baa...@earthlink.net]

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=222

MESSENGER Mission News
May 8, 2012

MESSENGER Gains Deputy Principal Investigator

Vancouver, B.C. -- Larry Nittler, a staff scientist in the Department of
Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, has
been named deputy principal investigator of the MESSENGER mission.
MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of CIW, delivered the
announcement this morning at the first plenary of the 26th meeting of
the MESSENGER Science Team meeting in Vancouver, B.C.

Solomon, a research scientist and director emeritus at CIW, has led
NASA's orbiting exploration of the planet Mercury since its inception.
In July, he will assume the directorship of Columbia University's
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Nittler received a bachelor's degree in Physics from Cornell University
in 1991, and a Ph.D. in Physics from Washington University in 1996.
After a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at CIW, he took a position as
an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, where he worked
on the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission to the asteroid 433 Eros.
His analysis of NEAR measurements helped provide the first chemical
analyses of a minor planet.

Nittler returned to Carnegie as a staff scientist in 2001. In addition
to remote-sensing geochemical measurements, his research focuses on the
laboratory study of extraterrestrial materials, including meteorites and
interplanetary dust particles, to understand the formation of the solar
system, the galaxy, and the universe and to identify the materials
involved. In particular, he has led investigations of the analysis of
samples returned by NASA's Stardust and Genesis missions.

"I'm delighted that Larry has agreed to shoulder new responsibilities
for the MESSENGER mission," says Solomon. "He's been a Participating
Scientist on MESSENGER for the past five years, he's served as deputy
chair of the Science Team's Geochemistry Discipline Group for the past
four, and he is leading the analysis of X-Ray Spectrometer observations
of Mercury's surface composition. That he is now taking on a still
larger role will enable a smooth transition in the partitioning of
mission management tasks even as I assume additional duties in a new
position."

"I'm honored and excited to take on this expanded role in MESSENGER,"
says Nittler. "It's a wonderful opportunity to help ensure the continued
success of a ground-breaking planetary mission."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and
Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet
Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest
to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft launched on August 3, 2004, and
after flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury will start a yearlong study of
its target planet in March 2011. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington, leads the mission as Principal Investigator.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates
the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA.