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Bio: |
Professor Joseph Veverka, Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell, has been involved in
numerous imaging investigations on NASA solar system exploration missions including Mariner 9,
Viking, Voyager, Galileo, Mars Observer, Mars Global Surveyor, Cassini, and NEAR (Near Earth
Asteroid Rendezvous). His research has emphasized photometric and geologic studies of small
bodies: planetary satellites, asteroids and comets. He played a leading role in the study of
Phobos and Deimos, the two satellites of Mars on the Mariner 9 and Viking missions, and
coordinated the efforts of the Galileo Imaging Team during the first-ever spacecraft encounter with
an asteroid (951 Gaspra, 1991). He is the Team Leader of the Imaging/Spectral Team NEAR, the
first mission to have carried out a comprehensive orbital investigation of an asteroid (433 Eros,
2000-2001), and the Principal Investigator on the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR), a mission to
study the diversity of comet nuclei scheduled for launch in July 2002. He is especially interested
in the physical and geological processes that affect the evolution of comet nuclei. For Deep
Impact, Dr. Veverka will be responsible for the reduction of the imaging and spectral data and
for developing a three-dimensional shape model of the nucleus of comet Tempel 1 from the
flyby images. |
