Mars Curiosity Rover - RAD: Radiation Assessment Detector Results and Implications for Human Exploration of Mars

Newly interpreted data from the Mars Curiosity rover shows that physical barriers reduce radiation levels on the red planet, providing insight into what future human exploration on Mars might look like. The Radiation Assessment Detector, or RAD carried on the Curiosity rover has been making observations on Mars since 2012. The instrument is managed by a team at SwRI in Boulder. SwRI, together with Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, built RAD with funding from the NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and Germany’s national aerospace research center, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt.

Dr. Bent Ehresmann, a research scientist on the program will give a presentation on the latest published research on the instrument’s findings and the implications for human exploration of the planet as well as an overview of the instrument and its development.

Dr. Bent Ehresmann is a Senior Research Analyst in the Department of Space Studies at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder. Bent is the Operations and Data Archiving Lead, and Co-Science Lead of the RAD instrument on board NASA's Curiosity rover. He has a diploma and PhD in Physics of the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany. Bent has extensive experience in Monte Carlo simulations of the Martian radiation environment and response functions of several space instruments. He has also worked on instrument calibration of several space instruments operating on Mars, aboard the ISS and Solar Orbiter. Recently, he has also worked as the Proposal Manager for the Solaris mission.

R.S.V.P  By  Monday 1/24/22 through Eventbright Here

For questions: Chris Zeller 303-859-5660 chrismzeller@comcast.net

Additional info: aiaa-rm.org