Weekly Space Hanbout: October 20, 2021 - Volcanism on Venus and Ice on Mars with PSI's Megan Russell

This week we are very pleased to welcome Megan Russell from the Planetary Science Institute to the WSH.

Since starting at the Planetary Science Institute in March, Megan has gone from exploring volcanism on Venus to assisting in the search for ice on Mars. She is currently a Science Team Member and on the operations team for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Shallow Radar (SHARAD) experiment, and a System Analyst with the Colorado Shallow Radar Processing System (CO-SHARPS) team. Megan is also working on a Mars Subsurface Water Ice Mapping project.

After completing her BSc in Space Science at York University, Megan moved to Vancouver to work at PhotoSat, an Earth remote sensing company, as a Project Manager/Satellite and GIS Data Consultant. She then completed her MSc in Geophysics/Planetary Science at UBC with Dr. Catherine L. Johnson and worked as a teaching assistant and research associate in the department.

Megan's past research experience has involved delving into the world of volcanism on the planet Venus via geophysical investigations. She used observations collected from orbit during the Magellan mission (1990-1994) to help determine characteristics about the surface and subsurface, and tie this into the planet's evolution. To accomplish this, she used radar surface images, radar altimetry and high-resolution elevation maps created from stereo radar photos.

You can learn more about Megan and her research by visiting her PSI website: https://www.psi.edu/about/staffpage/mrussell.

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