11/16/2022
By Lynne Schaufenbil

Please join the Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology and Space Science Lab for the virtual talk "The Critical Role that Space Geodesy Plays in Earth Observation" by Stephen M. Merkowitz, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

Abstract

Society has become critically dependent on the instantaneous knowledge from smartphones and other devices of where things are, where they’ve been, and where they are going, but remains blissfully unaware of the infrastructure necessary to provide these capabilities. This hidden infrastructure is also essential for monitoring the Earth's shape, orientation in space, and gravity, and enabling other forms of Earth observations. The NASA Space Geodesy Network supports the geodetic needs of current and future Earth observations by maintaining and operating in cooperation with international partners a global network of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) ground stations. As highlighted by the US National Academies of Sciences, NASA’s Earth System Observatory is critically dependent on maintaining and improving the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) and Earth Orientation Parameters generated by the geodetic infrastructure. This talk will provide an overview of this dependency, describe the geodetic infrastructure, and summarize NASA’s status and plans for modernizing and expanding the global geodetic network to meet the needs of future Earth observation missions.

Biography

Stephen Merkowitz is a physicist and project manager at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. His research interests include space geodesy, Earth Science, lunar and interplanetary laser ranging, gravitational waves, and fundamental tests of General Relativity. Dr. Merkowitz manages NASA's Space Geodesy Project which includes NASA’s global network of Satellite Laser Ranging and Very Long Baseline Interferometry stations. Other projects he leads include the Global Positioning System Laser Retroreflector Array, Lunar Pathfinder Laser Retroreflector Array, and the Hollow Lunar Retroreflector. He is also developing in partnership with UML the Geodetic Reference Instrument Transponder for Small Satellites.

Merkowitz received his PhD in Physics from Louisiana State University working on gravitational wave antennas, and continued this research for two years in Frascati, Italy on a National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) fellowship. In 1998 he became a Research Associate at the University of Washington where he performed experimental tests of General Relativity and broke the records for the most precise measurements of Newton's gravitational constant G and the mass of the Earth. In 2000, he moved to NASA Goddard to serve as Deputy Project Scientist for the LISA Project, a space based gravitational wave mission. In 2009, Merkowitz went on a yearlong detail to the Executive Office of the President covering Physical Science and Engineering within the Office of Science and Technology Policy, followed by a detail at NASA Headquarters as Assistant Director of the Astrophysics Division. He returned to Goddard in 2011 to manage NASA’s Space Geodesy Project.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Lynne_SchaufenbiL@uml.edu for the Zoom link.