Diana Blaney
Diana Lee Blaney is an American planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a former chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society.
Research[edit]
Blaney's research focuses on instrumentation for space missions to determine the chemical composition of bodies in our solar system, including "directing the infrared instrument" on the Spirit rover on Mars,[1] and serving as principal investigator for the Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa, a planned mission to study the surface and internal water ocean of Europa.[2]
Education and career[edit]
Blaney is originally from Ashville, Ohio, the daughter of two teachers, and grew up dreaming of becoming a scientist of some sort before settling on space science.[3] She majored in mechanical engineering at the Ohio State University, graduating in 1984. She completed a PhD in geology and geophysics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1990;[4] her doctoral research involved Earth-based observation of Mars,[3][5] supervised by Thomas B. McCord.[6]
She came to JPL for postdoctoral research as a National Research Council Research Associate in 1990.[4] Initially, she intended to work on a spectrometer for the Mars Observer, but after that instrument was cancelled she quickly switched to other projects involving unmanned landers on Mars and comets, eventually including the Chemistry and Camera complex of the Mars rover missions.[3][5] She has remained at JPL as a scientist since 1992,[4] and is Deputy Project Scientist for the Mars Exploration Rover project.[7]
She chaired the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society for the 2021–2022 term.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ Chong, Jia-Rui (September 24, 2005), "At ABBA, Go Left to SpongeBob", Los Angeles Times, retrieved 2024-05-06
- ^ McKinnon, Mika (May 26, 2015), "Here Are The 9 Instruments We'll Use To Reveal The Secrets Of Europa", Gizmodo, retrieved 2024-05-06
- ^ a b c "Diana Blaney", NASA Science: People (Interview), NASA, retrieved 2024-05-06
- ^ a b c Curriculum vitae (PDF), Jet Propulsion Laboratory, April 2018, retrieved 2024-05-06
- ^ a b Niebur, Susan (September 24, 2010), "Diana Blaney: Play to Your Strengths", Women in Planetary Science, retrieved 2024-05-06
- ^ "Diana Lee Blaney", AstroGen, American Astronomical Society, retrieved 2024-05-06
- ^ "Diana Blaney", People, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, retrieved 2024-05-06
- ^ "Past DPS Officers", Division for Planetary Sciences, American Astronomical Society, retrieved 2024-05-06
External links[edit]
- Diana Blaney publications indexed by Google Scholar
- A scientific legacy with Dr. Blaney (podcast), Spacepod, August 20, 2023
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