Georgiana Kramer

I study the composition, structure, and evolution of the Moon, asteroids, and other planetary bodies – my expertise is the Moon. I have a background in petrology and geochemistry, rooted in laboratory analysis of terrestrial, lunar, and meteoritic samples, and using these analyses to model their origin and evolution. Since 2007, my focus has been on remote sensing data analysis, utilizing techniques in spectroscopy and geomorphology to map mineralogy, composition, petrology, geomorphology, and other characteristics of a planetary surface. I stress the importance of data integration between the variety of spacecraft measurements, and with laboratory-analyzed samples, including meteorites and Earth-derived planetary-analog materials. These combined data sets can work synergistically to improve the identification of planetary surface features and compositions, glean subsurface processes, and interpret the origin and evolution of a planetary body. I was a member of the Moon Mineralogy Mapper Science Team, which was the first instrument to unambiguously detect water on the Moon and map its global variations. I am currently a member of the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. I am keenly interested in the chemical and physical effects of space weathering on planetary surfaces, and the creation and retention of hydroxyl (OH) and water (HOH) on terrestrial bodies that lack an atmosphere. One such effect of space weathering are the strange and enigmatic lunar swirls. Lunar swirls are bright, curvilinear, optically immature surface features, the origin of which has been debated for over 35 years. Swirls are always associated with a magnetic anomaly, and my research has demonstrated that the magnetic field deflects incoming solar ions, and thereby reduces surface weathering effects. As a result, the swirls look young. My work has also shown that lunar swirls are depleted in OH and HOH relative to their immediate surroundings. The magnetic anomalies can only deflect low-mass ions; they have no effect on the trajectory of micrometeorites. Therefore, the lunar swirls are weathered almost exclusively by micrometeorites. This makes the lunar swirls a perfect laboratory to study the solar wind, space weathering, and complex electromagnetic interactions in the Solar System. As such, several lunar swirl locations are candidates for future robotic and manned lunar missions. This work continues through collaboration with international partners using new measurements from a broad range of scientific disciplines. I am particularly passionate about sharing space science with the public. I spend 5-10 hours every month giving presentations and demonstrations in venues such as classrooms, museums, and outreach events. I started the Female Superheroes of Science – a group of women who each have a superhero persona that represents her scientific passion. The group has an appeal to people of all ages and genders as role models, and has made appearances at schools, extracurricular events, major science fiction conferences, and professional planetary science conferences. I have mentored individual students and groups of students through research projects, most of which have been presented at major scientific conferences such as the Solar System Exploration and Research Virtual Institute Forum, the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, and the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. Some of these students and their projects have been published in scientific journals, including a high school team from Kickapoo High School in Missouri who are lead authors in an article published in 2014 in the esteemed planetary science journal, Icarus.