Ralph Lorenz

Ralph Lorenz is a planetary scientist and engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.[1] whose research focuses on understanding surfaces, atmospheres, and their interactions on planetary bodies, especially Titan, Venus, Mars, and Earth [2]. He currently serves as Mission Architect of Dragonfly, NASA's fourth selected New Frontiers mission,[3][4] and as participating scientist on Akatsuki [5] and InSight [6]. He is the recipient of the 2020 International Planetary Probe Workshop (IPPW) Al Seiff memorial award.

Education

Lorenz earned a B.Eng. in Aerospace Systems Engineering from the University of Southampton (UK) Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1990. For his thesis "Exploring the Surface of Titan", Lorenz was awarded a PhD in Space Sciences from the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1994. Lorenz spent 1994-2006 at the University of Arizona as a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist. In 2006, he joined the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.[7][8]


Research

Lorenz has published over 200 papers on spacecraft exploration of several bodies of the solar system, using scientific instruments and housekeeping data from engineering systems (such as observing the Mars environment and a transit of Deimos [9] via the solar array currents on the InSight lander [10] or measuring the dust and gas in the plumes of Enceladus using Cassini's attitude control system [11]). He has conducted field research on dust devils [12], sand dunes and volcanos, exploiting techniques such as kite-borne [13], timelapse and near-infrared photography. He has also published on the dynamics of Frisbees [14], the thermodynamics of the drinking bird toy [15], and the moving rocks ("Sailing Stones") of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley [16]. He documented the migration of sand dunes at the Mos Espa film set in Tunisia, seen on the Star Wars movies [17]. His contributions in scientific history include noting the calculations of Edmond Halley on the size of wings needed for human flight [18] , and the definition [19] of the circumstellar habitable zone by Edward Maunder.

Lorenz has participated in several NASA and ESA missions. He was a Young Graduate Trainee for ESA's Huygens from 1990-1991 and continued on as a member of the Huygens Science Team, designing and building its penetrometer instrument.[7] [8] As a member of the Cassini RADAR team[20], Lorenz led the planning of Titan radar observations during Cassini's 13 year mission in the Saturn system. Lorenz was selected as a participating scientist on the Japanese mission Akatsuki in 2010[5] and NASA's InSight mission at Mars in 2017[6]

He has also been involved in numerous mission concepts, including the Titan Mare Explorer (TiME)[21], the "Billion Dollar Box" Saturnian system study[22], Titan Airship Explorer [23], AVIATR[24], a Mars meteorology and seismology concept[25], and a Titan submarine [26]

Books
Title Authors Publisher Date ISBN
Saturn's Moon Titan Owners' Workshop Manual Ralph Lorenz Haynes 2020 978-1785216435
Exploring Planetary Climate R.D. Lorenz Cambridge University Press 2019 978-1108471541
Dust Devils D. Reiss, R. D. Lorenz, M. Balme, L. Neakrase, A. Pio Rossi, A. Spiga, and J. Zarnecki (Editors) Springer 978-9402411331
Planetary Climate before the Space Age R.D. Lorenz Amazon Digital Services LLC 2017
NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens: 1997 onwards (Cassini orbiter, Huygens probe and future exploration concepts) (Owners' Workshop Manual) R.D. Lorenz Haynes Publishing UK 2017 978-1785211119
Dune Worlds: How Windblown Sand Shapes Planetary Landscapes R.D. Lorenz and J. R. Zimbelman Springer 2014 978-3540897248
Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics and the Production of Entropy: Life, Earth, and Beyond (Understanding Complex Systems) A. Kleidon , R. D. Lorenz (Editors) Springer 2004 978-3-540-22495-2
Spinning Flight: Dynamics of Frisbees, Boomerangs, Samaras, and Skipping Stones R.D. Lorenz Springer 2006 978-0387307794
Titan Unveiled: Saturn's Mysterious Moon Explored R.D. Lorenz and J. Mitton Princeton University Press 2010 978-0691146331
Planetary Landers and Entry Probes A. Ball, J. Garry, R.D. Lorenz, V. Kerzhanovich Cambridge University Press 2007 978-0521820028
Space Systems Failures: Disasters and Rescues of Satellites, Rocket and Space Probes (Springer Praxis Books) A. Ball, J. Garry, R.D. Lorenz, V. Kerzhanovich Praxis 2005 978-0387215198
Lifting Titan's Veil: Exploring the Giant Moon of Saturn R.D. Lorenz and J. Mitton Cambridge University Press 2002 978-0521793483

Filmography

Lorenz has appeared in numerous science documentaries and series, including NOVA, NASA's Unexplained Files, Horizon, and Wonders of the Solar System.[27]

gollark: Unexpected "interview" with a viewbomber.
gollark: ```To answer Nebula's question: He's an interesting dude.```
gollark: The alt they're DMing me with is not on here.
gollark: "Yes, I am reading it"
gollark: They are probably reading this, you know.

References
  1. "JHUAPL - , Ralph, Lorenz - Science Research Portal". secwww.jhuapl.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  2. Zacny, K.; Lorenz, R.; Rehnmark, F.; Costa, T.; Sparta, J.; Sanigepalli, V.; Mank, Z.; Yen, B.; Yu, D.; Bailey, J.; Bergman, D. (2019). "Application of Pneumatics in Delivering Samples to Instruments on Planetary Missions". 2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference: 1–13. doi:10.1109/AERO.2019.8741887. ISBN 978-1-5386-6854-2.
  3. Voosen, Paul (2019-07-05). "NASA to fly drone on Titan". Science. 365 (6448): 15.1–15. Bibcode:2019Sci...365...15V. doi:10.1126/science.365.6448.15-a. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 31273103.
  4. JHU APL. "Dragonfly Team". Dragonfly. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  5. "NASA - Scientists Chosen to Help on Venus Climate Orbiter". www.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  6. "InSight Participating Scientist Program (INSTPSP) Abstracts of selected proposals" (PDF). NSPIRES.
  7. http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rlorenz/shortCV
  8. Spring 2020, Dale Keiger / Published (2020-03-19). "Destination Titan". The Hub. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  9. Lorenz, Ralph D.; Lemmon, Mark T.; Mueller, Nils (2020). "A Transit Lightcurve of Deimos, Observed with the InSight Solar Arrays". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 4 (4).
  10. Lorenz, Ralph D.; Lemmon, Mark T.; Maki, Justin; Banfield, Donald; Spiga, Aymeric; Charalambous, Constantinos; Barrett, Elizabeth; Herman, Jennifer A.; White, Brett T.; Pasco, Samuel; Banerdt, W. Bruce (2020). "Scientific Observations with the InSight Solar Arrays: Dust, Clouds and Eclipses on Mars". Earth and Space Science: e2019EA000992. doi:10.1029/2019EA000992.
  11. Lorenz, R. D.; Burk, T. A. (2018). "Enceladus Plume Density from Cassini Spacecraft Attitude Control Data". Icarus. 300: 200–202. Bibcode:2018Icar..300..200L. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2017.09.003. PMC 6278931. PMID 30524143.
  12. "A Roundup of Dust Devil Research".
  13. "Compact and inexpensive kite apparatus for geomorphological field aerial photography, with some remarks on operations".
  14. "Flight and attitude dynamics measurements of an instrumented Frisbee" (PDF).
  15. Lorenz, Ralph (2006). "Finite-time thermodynamics of an instrumented drinking bird toy". American Journal of Physics. 74 (8): 677–682. Bibcode:2006AmJPh..74..677L. doi:10.1119/1.2190688.
  16. "Trail formation by ice-shoved "sailing stones" observed at Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park".
  17. "Dunes on Tatooine".
  18. "Edmond Halley's Aeronautical Calculations on the Feasibility of Manned Flight in 1691". Journal of Aeronautical History. 2012 (2). 2012.
  19. "Maunder's Work on Planetary Habitability in 1913: Early Use of the term "Habitable Zone" and a "Drake Equation" Calculation". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 4 (79). 2020.
  20. "The Team | Cassini Mission". NASA Solar System Exploration. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  21. Stofan, E.; Lorenz, R.; Lunine, J.; Bierhaus, E. B.; Clark, B.; Mahaffy, P. R.; Ravine, M. (2013). "TiME - The Titan Mare Explorer". 2013 IEEE Aerospace Conference: 211. Bibcode:2013aero.confE.211S. doi:10.1109/AERO.2013.6497165. ISBN 978-1-4673-1813-6.
  22. Spilker, T. R.; Reh, K. R.; Elliott, J. O.; Lorenz, R.; Spencer, J. (2008). "The "Billion Dollar Box" Study of Science Missions to Saturnian Satellites". 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference: 1–9. doi:10.1109/AERO.2008.4526246. ISBN 978-1-4244-1487-1.
  23. Hall, J. L.; Kerzhanovich, V. V.; Jones, J. A.; Cutts, J. A.; Yavrouian, A. A.; Colozza, A.; Lorenz, R. D. (2002). "Titan Airship Explorer". Proceedings, IEEE Aerospace Conference. 1: 1–336 vol.1. doi:10.1109/AERO.2002.1036852. ISBN 0-7803-7231-X.
  24. Barnes, Jason W.; Lemke, Lawrence; Foch, Rick; McKay, Christopher P.; Beyer, Ross A.; Radebaugh, Jani; Atkinson, David H.; Lorenz, Ralph D.; Le Mouélic, Stéphane; Rodriguez, Sebastien; Gundlach, Jay (2012). "AVIATR—Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance". Experimental Astronomy. 33 (1): 55–127. doi:10.1007/s10686-011-9275-9. ISSN 1572-9508.
  25. Lorenz, R.; Oleson, S.; Cataldo, R.; Schmitz, P.; Colozza, A.; Bairstow, B.; Lee, Y.; Amini, R. (2014). "MASER: A Mars meteorology and seismology mini-network mission concept enabled by Milliwatt-RPS". 2014 IEEE Aerospace Conference: 1–11. doi:10.1109/AERO.2014.6836397. ISBN 978-1-4799-1622-1.
  26. Oleson, Steve. "Phase I Final Report: Titan Submarine" (PDF).
  27. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1985744/
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