Program

Speaker: Kalind Carpenter Topic: Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) Kalind is a Robotics Engineer in the robotic Vehicles and Manipulators group (347B) at JPL. The lab he works in focuses on rapid technology development and end effectors specifically tailored to gripping and mobility. Current work includes Principal Investigator of the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS), an […]

Speaker: Mike Bertin Topic: Galileo’s Finger: The Birth and Death of Galileo History of the famous “Father of Modern Science” with obscure details most amateurs are not familiar with. Mike Bertin is a senior docent at Palomar Observatory and has spoken on Galileo, Palomar Observatory, and George Hale in numerous venues. He holds a BS

Speaker: Zoltan Levay Topic: Creating the Pillars: Visualizing Hubble’s Colorful Universe Zoltan G. (Zolt) Levay was Imaging Group Lead in the Office of Public Outreach at Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD. Since 1993 he was primarily responsible for producing publicly accessible images from Hubble Space Telescope data to illustrate Hubble’s science discoveries. He

Topic: SDAA Elections and Gadget Night Bring your astronomy-related or imaging garage-built objects, tools, ideas, new hardware, software to share with SDAA on our traditional Gadget Night – only this year via ZOOM. This includes astro-images, views of your home or TDS observatories, videos of telescope equipment, software and neat techniques. Due to the COVID-19

Speaker: Cecilia Sanders, California Institute of Technology Topic: You’ll Know It When You See It:  Defining, Describing and Detecting Life in the Universe SDAA’s October speaker is Caltech graduate student Cecilia Sanders, a Ph.D. candidate in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences.  She will give a presentation titled “You’ll Know It When You See It:

Speaker: Dr. David A. Williams, Arizona State University Topic: The Psyche Mission Our September speaker is Dr. David A. Williams, Ph.D., Research Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University and the Co-Investigator and Deputy Imager lead for the NASA Psyche Mission. Dr. Williams is the Director of the Ronald Greeley Center

Speaker: Dr. Julie Castillo-Rogez, JPL planetary scientist Topic: NASA Near Earth Object Missions Our August speaker is Dr. Julie Castillo-Rogez, a JPL planetary scientist specializing in water-rich objects from a modeling and experimental perspectives applied to the formulation, design, and planning of planetary missions. She is the principal science investigator at JPL for the NEA Scout mission.

Speaker: Steve Murray – NASA Solar System Ambassador Topic: New Concepts in Astrobiology (Biosignature and Tech Signature Methods) Abstract: Dr. Murray discusses new techniques for finding signatures of exoplanet life An SDAA member and popular speaker, Steve Murray, a NASA Solar System Ambassador, has been a space enthusiast since the Apollo era, and counted several

Speaker: Dr. Sue Smrekar – JPL Rocky Planet Geoscientist Topic: Venus: Earth’s Evil Twin or Just Misunderstood? Abstract: Venus is becoming more attractive to scientists as technology improves for sending spacecraft to survive orbit and even descend to the surface. From orbiters to balloons, we will talk about the great science that can be done,