Planetary Scientist gregor.b.steinbruegge@jpl.nasa.gov
I am a planetary scientist and my research focuses on exploring the interior structure and dynamics of planets and satellites. I am particularly fascinated by bodies which are subject to tidal forcing. Tides are a great tool to understand the internal structure and mechanical properties of many moons but also planets like Mercury. On the icy satellites of the outer solar system tides are the main energy source and lead to dynamic ocean worlds and potentially habitable environments. I received my M.S. degree in physics from the Free University Berlin, Germany in 2013 and I completed my Ph.D. at the Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformation Science, TU Berlin, Germany in 2018. My thesis on tidal interactions across the Solar System was completed in collaboration with the Institute of Planetary Research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
I am dedicated to enhancing our knowledge of planetary interiors by diversifying the geodetic constraints we have available using new instrumentations, new missions, and more sophisticated data analysis techniques. I am an affiliate of the REASON (Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface) instrument on the Europa Clipper mission where I serve as the co-chair of the Geodesy Focus Group. I am further affiliated with the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) on the BepiColombo mission and the Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) on the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE).
Gregor Steinbrügge Research Scientist NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Drive, M/S 67-201 Pasadena, CA 91109 email: gregor.b.steinbruegge@jpl.nasa.gov
Many icy satellites are suspected to have subsurface oceans beneath their icy shells, such as Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede. However, our knowledge of these bodies is still - literally - very superficial. I am interested in the interior structure of icy satellites and how melt can migrate within the ice shells.
Having information on the global shape, topography, and rotational state of planetary bodies is a prerequisite for many advanced scientific studies. Modern planetary geodesy relies on lasers and radars. I am developing new techniques to analyze data from current and future missions.
The interior structure and evolution of many planets like Mercury is still not fully understood today and poses critical questions to our understanding of the early solar system. I am interested in better understanding the interior structure and thermal well as orbital evolution of planets and satellites using state of the art modeling based on geodetic constraints.
The Europa Clipper Mission will perform multiple flyby's of Jupiter's moon Europa. The NASA mission is scheduled for launch in 2023.
ESA's JUICE mission is scheduled for launch in 2022 and will cruise through the jovian system before inserting into orbit around Ganymede.
The ESA mission BepiColombo launched in 2018 and is currently on its way to Mercury. Onboard is the Laser altimeter BELA.
C. Bierson & G. Steinbrügge, Tidal heating did not dry out Io and Europa, The Planetary Science Journal G. Steinbrügge, M.S. Haynes, D.M. Schroeder, K.M. Scanlan, A. Stark, D.A. Young, C. Grima, S. Kempf, G. Ng, D. Buhl, J.R.C. Voigt, T. Roatch, D.D. Blankenship, Altimetry Measurements from Planetary Radar Sounders and Application to SHARAD on Mars, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing K.M. Scanlan, G. Steinbrügge, S.K. Kempf, C. Grima, D.A. Young, D.D. Blankenship, Delay Doppler SAR Focusing and Quantitative Quality Control of Future REASON Data, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing N. Thomas and 45 colleagues (incl. Steinbrügge), The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter, Space Science Reviews A. Genova, H. Hussmann, T. Van Hoolst, D. Heyner, L. Iess, F. Santoli, N. Thomas, P. Kolhey, B. Langlais, J.Z.D. Mieth, J.S. Oliveira, A. Stark, G. Steinbrügge, N. Tosi, J.Wicht, J. Benkhoff, Geodesy, Geophysics and Fundamental Physics Investigations of the BepiColombo mission, Space Science Reviews G. Steinbrügge D. Castelletti , D.M. Schroeder, S. Turner, R. Jensen, G.W. Paterson,Polarimetric Bistatic Synthetic Aperture Radar Observations of the Moon using Mini-RF, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing J.R.C. Voigt, C. Hamilton, G. Steinbrügge, S. Scheidt, U. Münzer, A. Hoskuldsson, I. Jonsdottir, T. Thordarson, Geomorphological Characterization of the 2014-2015 Holuhraun Lava Flow-Field in Iceland, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research J.N.H. Abrahams, F. Nimmo, T. Becker, R. Gladstone, K. Retherford, G. Steinbrügge, Erwan Mazarico, Improved determination of Europa's long-wavelength topography using stellar occultations, Earth and Space Science
G. Steinbrügge, M. Dumberry, A. Rivoldini, G. Schubert, H. Cao, D.M. Schroeder, K.M. Soderlund, Challenges on Mercury’s interior structure posed by the new mea-surements of its obliquity and tides, Geophysical Research Letters, in press S. Vance, B. Journeaux, M. Hesse, G. Steinbrügge, The Salty Secrets of Icy Ocean Worlds, JGR Planets Vol. 121, doi:10.1029/2020JE006736 (Comment) R.N. Thor, R. Kallenbach, U.R. Christensen, P. Gläser, A. Stark, G. Steinbrügge, J.Oberst, Determination of the lunar body tide from global laser altimetry data, Journal of Geodesy, in press H. Xiao, A. Stark, G. Steinbrügge, H. Hussmann, J. Oberst, Processing of Laser Altimeter Time-of-Flight Measurements to Geodetic Coordinates, Journal of Geodesy, in press G. Steinbrügge*, J.R.C. Voigt*, N.S. Wolfenbarger, C.W. Hamilton, K.M. Soderlund, Brine Migration and Impact-Induced Cryovolcanism on Europa, Geophysical Research Letters Vol 47, doi:10.1029/2020GL090797G (*contributed equally) Gerekos, C. Grima, G. Steinbrügge, Sanchari Thakur, K.M. Scanlan, D.A. Young,L. Bruzzone, D.D. Blankenship, Martian roughness analogues of Europan terrains forradar sounder investigations, Icarus, 10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114197G. Steinbrügge, J.R.C. Voigt, D.M. Schroeder, A. Stark, M.S. Haynes, K.M. Scanlan, C.W. Hamilton, D.A. Young, H. Hussmann, C. Grima, D.D. Blankenship, The surface roughness of Europa derived from Galileo stereo images, Icarus Vol. 343, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113669 G. Steinbrügge, J.R.C. Voigt, D.M. Schroeder, A. Stark, M.S. Haynes, K.M. Scanlan, C.W. Hamilton, D.A. Young, H. Hussmann, C. Grima, D.D. Blankenship, The surface roughness of Europa derived from Galileo stereo images, Icarus Vol. 343, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113669 R.N. Thor, R. Kallenbach, U.R. Christensen, A. Stark, G. Steinbrügge, A. Di Ruscio, P. Cappuccio, L. Iess, H. Hussmann and J. Oberst, Prospects for measuring Mercury’s tidal Love number h2 with the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 633, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/2019365172019
G. Steinbrügge, T. Steinke, R. Thor, A. Stark, H. Hussmann, Measuring Ganymedes librations with laser altimetry, Geosciences Vol.9, Iss.7, doi:10.3390/geosciences9070320 H. Hussmann and 39 colleagues (incl. G. Steinbrügge), The Ganymede laser altimeter(GALA): key objectives,instrument design, and performance, CEAS Space Journal,Vol 11, 381390, doi: 10.1007/s12567-019-00282-8H. H. Araki, K. Ishibashi, N. Namiki, H. Noda, M. Kobayashi, K. Enya, M. Ozaki, T.Mizuno, Y. Saito, K. Touhara, S. Oshigami, S. Kashima, J. Kimura, S. Kobayashi, G.Steinbrügge, A. Stark, C. Althaus, S. Del Togno, K. Lingenauber, H. Hussmann, Per-formance Model Simulation of Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) for the JUICE Mission, Transactions of the Japan Society for Aeronauticaland Space Sciences, Aerospace Technology Japan. Vol. 17, 150-154, doi:10.2322/tastj.17.150J. J. Kimura, H. Hussmann, S. Kamata, K. Matsumoto, J. Oberst, G. Steinbrügge, A. Stark, K. Gwinner, S. Oshigami, N. Namiki, K. Lingenauber, K. Enya, K. Kuramoto, S. Sasaki, Science Objectives of the Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) for the JUICE Mission, Transactions of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Aerospace Technology Japan. Vol. 17, 234-243, doi: 10.2322/tastj.17.234 K.M. Scanlan, C. Grima, G. Steinbrügge, S.D. Kempf, D. A.Young, D.D. Blankenship, Geometric determination of ionospheric total electron content from dual frequency, radar soundingmeasurements, Planetary and Space Science (2019), Vol. 178, 104696, doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2019.07.0102018
G. Steinbrügge, D.M. Schroeder, M.S. Haynes, H. Hussmann, C. Grima and D.D. Blankenship, Assessing the potential for measuring Europa’s tidal Love number h2 using radar sounder and topographic imager data, Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Vol. 482, 334-341, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.11.028 A. Stark, J. Oberst, F. Preusker, S. Burmeister, G. Steinbrügge, H. Hussmann, The reference frames of Mercury after the MESSENGER mission, Journal of Geodesy (2018)92:949961, doi 10.1007/s00190-018-1157-8 G. Steinbrügge, A. Stark, H. Hussmann, J. Oberst, The performance of the Bepi-Colombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) prior launch and prospects for Mercury orbit operations, Planetary andSpace Science 159 (2018) 84-92. doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2018.04.017 G. Steinbrügge, S. Padovan, H. Hussmann, T. Steinke, A. Stark, J. Oberst, Viscoelastic Tides of Mercury and the Determination of its Inner Core Size, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 123, 27602772. doi: 10.1029/2018JE005569 H. Hussmann, J. Oberst, A. Stark, G. Steinbrügge, The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter(BELA): An instrument for geodetic investigations of Mercury, Chapter in Planetary Remote Sensing and Mapping, Editors: Bo Wu, Kaichang Di, Jürgen Oberst, Irina Karachevtseva, ISBN: 9780429000515.
H. Hussmann, D. Shoji, G. Steinbr ̈ugge, A. Stark and F. Sohl, Constraints on dissipation in the deep interiors of Ganymede and, Europa from tidal phase-lags, CelestialMechanics and Dynamical Astronomy. Vol. 126, pp. 131-144, doi: 10.1007/s10569-016-9721-02015
G. Steinbrügge, A. Stark, H. Hussmann, F. Sohl and J. Oberst, Measuring tidal deformations by laser altimetry, A performance model for the Ganymede Laser Altimeter, Planetary and Space Science. Vol. 117, pp. 184-191, doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2015.06.013
Co-chair of the Europa Clipper Geodesy Focus Group 2020 – present Member of the Europa Clipper Interior Thematic Working Group 2018 – present Participant at the Keck Institute for Space Studies, Tidal Heating 2018 Member of the BepiColombo geodesy and geophysics working group 2017 – present Member of the BepiColombo JUICE science working team 2015 – present Reviewer for JGR Planets, Icarus, Acta Astronautica, Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, Geomorphology, Earth Planets and Space, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. Convener EGU 2019 and 2020, Session Planetary Dynamics: Shape, Gravity, Orbit, Tides, and Rotation from Observations and Models.
