VIT Distinguished Speaker

Optional ZOOM LINK
Meeting ID: 910 9128 2060
Passcode: 403994

"Robots Under Antarctica, and One Day, in Space"

For the past ten years, our team has developed an underwater vehicle named Icefin by focusing on what to do to get under the ice and make critical science measurements possible for the first time. Icefin is a novel, modular and (relatively) low logistics underwater vehicle outfitted to split the gap between large open ocean autonomous vehicles and small "roving eye" vehicles. With no prior data in these critical places, using Icefin we have now been able to resolve key details of the sub-ice dynamics that have been missing. At the same time, we are developing exploration and science strategies for use beyond Earth for worlds like Jupiter's moon Europa.

In this presentation, I will share stories and data from our work with Icefin. With any luck, these new observations will help improve forecasts of future change on our planet, and motivate new voyages of discovery on Earth and beyond.

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Hosted by Professor Colin Meyer

About the Speaker(s)

Britney Schmidt
Professor of Astronomy and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell

Britney Schmidt is an associate professor of Astronomy and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University. She has conducted nine field seasons in Antarctica and three in the Arctic. Her team has used Icefin to explore underneath the McMurdo, Ross, and Fimbul Ice Shelves and Thwaites Glacier, working with NASA, NSF, Antarctica New Zealand, the British Antarctic Survey, and the Norwegian Polar Institute.

A native of Tucson, AZ, she received a BS from the University of Arizona, and PhD from UCLA. Britney has a long history of NASA spacecraft involvement, including the Europa Clipper and Dawn missions and helped develop the Habitable Worlds Observatory, Europa Lander and Enceladus Orbilander concepts.

Contact

For more information, contact Latrice Jones at latrice.l.jones@dartmouth.edu.