Dr. Rebecca Ghent
Senior Scientist
Currently resides in Oregon
Targets of Interest: Earth, Mercury, Moon, Venus
Disciplines/Techniques: Geology, Mapping, Numerical Modeling, Radar, Remote Sensing, Tectonics, Thermal IR analysis
Missions: LRO, Mars 2020, OSIRIS-REx
Instruments: Diviner Thermal Radiometer, RIMFAX lunar penetrating radar
I'm Dr. Rebecca Ghent, and I'm interested in geological processes on the terrestrial planets, including my favorite planet, Earth. My recent work has focused on lunar surface evolution, especially impact cratering and regolith evolution. I have previously worked on analysis of tectonic deformation on Venus using Magellan radar data, geological analyses of volcanic terrains on Mars using visible and infrared imagery, analysis of the Mars 2020 Curiosity rover landing site using ground penetrating radar, and measurements of dielectric properties of astromaterials.
An emerging passion for me is exploring how my science can support efforts to improve agriculture for local production of food and fiber to sustainably feed and clothe a growing population. This includes areas of research that support regenerative agricultural practices such as improvement of soil moisture retention, carbon sequestration, and overall health. I am looking for projects in this area to which I can contribute. I bring 20+ years’ experience analyzing multispectral, thermal, and radar data on Earth and other planets, and an interest in operationalizing new observations in innovative ways to address these questions.
Left: Our work using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Diviner thermal radiometer data to date lunar impact craters led to the proposal that the Earth-moon impact rate increased by a factor of 2-3 at ~270 Ma (Mazrouei et al., 2019). Right: UAV-based multispectral data for an agricultural field showing various useful indices.
Active Projects
Project Team
Principal Investigator
Project Team
External Partners
- Columbia U.
- UC Boulder
- U. Winnipeg
- CMU
- GSFC
- USRA
- DLR
- Illinois U.
- JSC
