Luke Sollitt

Affiliation:  NASA/Ames Research Center

Email: luke.s.sollitt@nasa.gov  

Professional Experience

Branch Chief, Planetary Systems

NASA/Ames Research Center / July 2022 – present

Program Director (VSEE/FedTemp)

National Science Foundation / February 2019 – July 2022

Senior Scientist

Planetary Science Institute, Tuscon, AZ / August 2011 – July 2022

Associate/Assistant Professor, Physics

The Citadel, Charleston, SC / 2009 – 2019

Staff Scientist/Systems Engineer

Northrop Grumman, Redondo Beach, CA / 2003 – 2009

Education

2003 – PhD, Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

1999 – M.S., Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

1997 – B.S., Physics, with High Honors, University of Maryland, College Park

1990 – B.A., German Language and Literature, University of Maryland, College Park

Research Interests: The search for water on planetary bodies; planetary surfaces and soils; planetary instrument/mission development; suborbital astronomy; solar energetic particles. Member of the LCROSS Science Team.

Selected Publications

Colaprete et al, “The detection of water within the LCROSS ejecta plume”, Science 22 October 2010: Vol. 330 no. 6003 pp. 463-468.DOI: 10.1126/science.1186986.

Beegle et al, “Particle sieving and sorting under simulated Martian conditions” (2009), Icarus 204, 687-696. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2009.07.008.

Anderson et al, “Particle transport and distribution on the Mars Science Laboratory mission: Effects of triboelectric charging” (2009), Icarus 204, 545-557 doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2009.07.006.

Sollitt et al, “Ionic Charge States of Solar Energetic Particles,” 2008. Astrophysical Journal, 679, p. 910-919. doi:10.1086/587121

Patent: Laser Desorption Infrared Spectrometry: a method for remote analysis of materials embedded in a frozen surface, such as in the icy surface of a planetary body, US Patent #7271387.