Please note that you can contact me for any of the papers if you do not have access to them.
Current Research: Pluto and Charon Craters
Education & Public Outreach: Main Bookmark
Other Research: Main Bookmark
Pluto-Charon System Craters
2012-present
New Horizons Pluto Encounter & Science Teams, Geology & Geophysics Investigation Science Theme Team, etc.
I started working on the New Horizons mission to Pluto in 2012 with planning, and I stayed on to work with the Geology & Geophysics Investigation (GGI) science theme team. I have primarily been lending my expertise with mapping impact craters elsewhere, applied to Pluto and Charon. Specifically, I spearheaded the effort to combine multiple peoples' crater mappings to create a consensus crater database of each body. This can be used for many different science investigations, including understanding the population of small Kuiper Belt Objects which cannot be observed from Earth (with current technology). (Unfortunately, the smaller satellites are too small to image well enough to map more than a few craters.)
I have also been leading the geologic mapping effort of Charon to try to understand the sequence of events and types of terrain on the body.
I have also used my rudimentary knowledge of 3D animation software to create numerous images and animations from the New Horizons data. I've been lucky enough that a few of these have been featured in NASA press releases or other NASA formal releases.
Papers:
Robbins, S.J., et al. (in rev.) Craters on the Pluto Charon System. in review with Icarus.
Abstracts:
Robbins, S.J., et al. (2016) Discovery of Layered Ejecta Craters on Charon and Implications for Formation
. Planetary Crater Consortium, 7, Abstract #1601.
Robbins, S.J., et al. (2016) Geologic Map of New Horizons' Encounter Hemisphere of Charon, II. Geologic Society of America, Abstract #281790.
Robbins, S.J., et al. (2016) Geologic Map of New Horizons' Encounter Hemisphere of Charon
Robbins, S.J., et al. (2016) A Consensus Crater Catalog of Pluto, Charon, and Nix
Robbins, S.J., et al. (2015) Crater Mapping in the Pluto-Charon System: Considerations, Approach, and Progress. American Geophysical Union, 47, #73380.
Robbins, S.J., et al. (2015) Crater Mapping Campaign for the Pluto-Charon System
Education & Public Outreach Releases
I was lucky enough to get several animations and still images I created in 3D software from New Horizons data officially released by NASA.
Flying Over Charon: This 21-second animation was a rush job (48 hrs) to highlight the latest, high-res Charon images that had just come off the spacecraft at the end of September 2015. Alan Stern, the project Principle Investigator, wanted to highlight the dark polar area, the canyon system, and a "moated mountain," the origin of which we still aren't sure about. That required a lot of twists and turns, and it was the first time I was able to use very preliminary topographic models that the team had developed to highlight the canyon and mountain. Note that the topography is NOT exaggerated. Oh yes, and this was featured in a NASA press release as opposed to a blog. However, the biggest controversy about the movie was that I had been told by unnamed persons to use "Planet-Wide Canyon" to label the canyon. This produced an uproar on YouTube with people pointing out that Charon is a moon or a binary dwarf planet, not a "planet" according to the IAU. I drafted a response that was officially posted in the comments to the YouTube movie: "Thanks for your comments. Yes, we know the difference between a moon and a planet. In the planetary science community, major moons are sometimes informally referred to as "planets," due to their diverse geology and how they're studied. We agree that "Charon-wide Canyon" would have been a better choice of words. Hope you're enjoying the video."
Pluto Encounter Hemisphere Aerial Tour: This 30-second animation used the same images as the "≈1/3 Sphere" still image, but it showed off the images in a way that a still image can't. The animation tours many of the main features the team had been talking about over the previous months as well as new terrain that we hadn't seen at that resolution before.
≈1/3 Sphere, Pluto Encounter Hemisphere: We had just gotten down our best LORRI (LOng-Range Reconnaissance Imager) images that would view the whole disk at 800 m/px, and we had just gotten down a group of 15 images at 400 m/px. The team wanted to emphasize some of this latest imagery over the previous, and so a few of us created perspective views. Mine was the one chosen and was featured at the top of the NASA press release and, as such, the top of most news articles around the world about those latest images. You can click the image below for the full-resolution version.
Pluto System Encounter Fly Through Animation: This 23-second animation depicts the trajectory of New Horizons through the Pluto system from approximately July 1 through July 20 (closest approach was at 11:50UTC on July 14, 2015). This uses the real trajectory, the best Pluto and Charon basemaps we had when this was released, and correctly shows Pluto's atmosphere and the sun as our home star is occulted (passes behind) both Pluto and Charon.
Team Papers and Selected Abstracts to Which I Contributed:
The philosophy behind publications on missions completely varies by mission. New Horizons has a very inclusive policy: The basic idea is that if you were on the science team, you participated in helping to analyze or process the data in some way, and so you should be included on the papers and probably on conference abstracts. This is mostly captured in the idea of "and the New Horizons Science Team" on the author list, but not always, especially if you made a larger contribution.
Below, I have listed the papers on which I was listed as an author, and I have listed the conference abstracts on which I was a significant contributor.
Grundy, W.M. et al. (in rev.) Formation of Charon's Red Poles from Seasonally Cold-Trapped Volatiles. in rev. with Nature.
McKinnon, W.B., et al. (2016) Convection in a Volatile Nitrogen-Ice-Rich Layer Drives Pluto's Geological Vigour. Nature, 534, p. 82-87. doi: 10.1038/nature18289.
Porter, S.B. et al. (2016) The Small Satellites of Pluto. Lunar & Planet. Sci. Conf., 47, Abstract #2390.
Singer, K.N. et al. (2016) Craters on Pluto and Charon — Surface Ages and Impactor Populations. Lunar & Planet. Sci. Conf., 47, Abstract #2310.
Schenk, P. et al. (2016) Topography of Pluto and Charon: Impact Cratering. Lunar & Planet. Sci. Conf., 47, Abstract #2795.
Bagenal, F. et al. (2016) Pluto's Interaction with Its Space Environment: Solar Wind, Energetic Particles, and Dust. Science, 351:6279. doi: 10.1126/science.aad9045.
Gladstone, G.R. et al. (2016) The Atmosphere of Pluto as Observed by New Horizons. Science, 351:6279. doi: 10.1126/science.aad8866.
Moore, J.M. et al. (2016) The Geology of Pluto and Charon Through the Eyes of New Horizons. Science, 351:6279, p. 1284-1294. doi: 10.1126/science.aad7055.
Weaver, H.A. et al. (2016) The Small Satellites of Pluto as Observed by New Horizons. Science, 351:6279, p. 1281-1286. doi: 10.1126/science.aae0030.
Singer, K.S., et al. (2015) Craters on Pluto and Charon: The Influence of Low Gravities, Low Impact Speeds, and Unique Ices. American Geophysical Union, 47, #70906 or #102.02.
Throop, H., Spencer, J., Robbins, S.J., Tsang, C.C.C., Cruikshank, D., Stern, S.A., Weaver, H., Bedini, P., Calloway, A. (2015) Photos from Inside Pluto: Historic Images from the New Horizons Encounter with Pluto. DPS, 47, #210.35.
Stern, S.A. et al. The Pluto System: Initial Results from Its Exploration by New Horizons. Science, 350:6258, p. 292-300. doi: 10.1126/science/aad1815.