Jani Radebaugh Research
Overview
As a planetary scientist I work on Earth and other planets throughout the solar system. My research focuses Saturn's moon Titan, Jupiter's moon Io, Pluto, Mars and the Moon.
The Cassini spacecraft completed its mission at the Saturn system in 2017 and discovered many fundamental, new things about its largest moon Titan. As an Associate Team Member of the Cassini Radar Science Team, I work with scientists to understand the surface processes on Titan that form such features as dunes, mountains, lakes, rivers, and cryovolcanoes.
The Dragonfly mission is the next New Frontiers mission to be selected by NASA, a quadcopter-like rotorcraft lander for the surface of Titan! It will land in the dune regions and traverse to an impact crater, analyzing the materials and landscapes along the way. I am a Science Team member and am so excited to spend the next few decades on this mission.
The Galileo spacecraft spent nearly ten years in orbit around Jupiter, and it brought to light many complex and exciting characteristics of the Jupiter system. My students and I study active volcanoes on Io, specifically the distribution and thermal output of volcanic eruptions from Galileo and Cassini images. We also study the formation and distribution of Io's surface features, such as paterae (volcano-tectonic depressions), hotspots, and tectonic features.
The New Horizons mission explored Pluto in 2015 and revealed a diverse and active surface. With the New Horizons team, we discovered dunes of methane sand on the nitrogen ice glacier, evidence that wind blows on Pluto.
To better understand all of these solar system geological features, my research group travels to unique locations on the Earth that serve as analogues for other planets. We have studied megadunes in the Sahara, Arabia and Namibia and lava lakes and lava flows in Hawaii, Ethiopia and Vanuatu.
Examples of our field studies can be found at: http://janiradebaugh.byu.edu/geophotos
